


The Missing Piece

by SansPellegrino



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I think there are some funny bits, M/M, Not very angsty, or at least that's what I like to tell myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-17 15:11:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1392298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansPellegrino/pseuds/SansPellegrino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When it came down to it, the decision was pretty simple: did Sam want a free trip to a private island with his best friend and his brother, or not?" </p><p>Sam Winchester and his brother get invited to spend a few weeks of their summer vacation on friend Castiel's millionaire brother's private island in the Caribbean. The vacation takes a turn for the unexpected when Sam actually meets the millionaire in question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! so this is my first fanfic, so i'm sorry if it's a bit rusty or whatever. anyways I'd really appreciate feedback, good or bad, so let me know. thanks everyone and I hope you enjoy!  
> -cat

"Got any plans for the summer then, Castiel?" Sam almost shouted over the clamor of people.

The two friends walked under the large sign which was making it very clear that they were at Stanford University, California. Sam turned to glance at the other boy, hugging his books and his laptop to his chest as he was jostled about by people two thirds his height. That was the funny thing about being as tall as he was - despite easily standing out in huge crowds, the people in them always seemed to assume that he couldn't feel it when they slammed into him at top speed. Yet at the same time, there were always five or six people who just stared at him, as if thinking, "Wow, really? People can actually grow that tall?" He learned to ignore them, though, and had just enough time to brush back his definitely-not-stupid long hair to hear his friend's much quieter response.

"My brother's invited all of my family out to stay with him in the Caribbean. Although I doubt my father will go after last time; Luke and Gabe nearly shot him on Christmas Eve and I think that was the last straw," said the gruff voice beside him, sounding a little resigned.

Sam nodded, grinning as he pushed past the last of the people and made a left turn, heading towards the apartment building he and Castiel both occupied.

"So does that mean you get lots of bonding time with the rest of the Brady Bunch?"

Castiel let out a huff of breath which Sam had learned to interpret as a laugh. Castiel was smaller than Sam, slighter, with jet-black hair that was in a perpetual state of disarray and piercing blue eyes to compare with Sam's average brown. Whenever the pair went out together, to the library after lectures, or to grab a coffee stupidly early in the morning before a seminar, girls always seemed to linger around Castiel; he was attractive, Sam supposed. Unfortunately for the girls, Sam's friend was also completely oblivious to any attention whatsoever, and he seemed happy to keep it that way.

The two had met at a Philosophy and Theology lecture the year before. Sam had wandered in by accident, and Castiel happened to be filling in for the professor who was meant to be giving the lecture. At the end, Sam had gone up to apologize and the two had struck up an awkward friendship. They were almost the same age, with Castiel only being a year older, and once they discovered that they lived in the same building they had begun the routine of walking home together most nights. Sam wouldn't exactly advertise the fact, but Castiel was kind of the only friend he had here.

"It's going to be horrific this year," Castiel complained. "Luke's firm's been doing really well recently so I'll have to be prepared for even more arrogance than usual, and Gabe's band fell through so he'll be in a bad mood, and Mike's ALWAYS angry for no reason, and Anna just broke up with her boyfriend-"

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Sam tried to say, but Castiel just kept talking:

"And not only that but I'm pretty sure Luke's going to try and organize an Independence Day party again this year and they're all going to fight about who gets to organize what…"

Sam let out a sigh, patting his friend on the back. "It won't be that bad… Just stay out of their way?" He suggested. "Go into town or something and find a cafe and chill in there for a few hours if it gets a bit heated." Sam knew Castiel's family was a nightmare. He'd heard the stories. What with four other siblings, all of whom were extremely headstrong personalities, Castiel was basically the runt of the family.

"I can't," Castiel said helplessly as Sam stopped outside of the glass double doors to their building and typed in the number code to unlock the door. "My brother owns the whole island. There's nothing there except his house, pool and I think a tennis court."

Oh, yeah, and he was loaded. Like, mega-rich. Something about a rich Italian uncle who died and left Castiel Milton and his siblings a hell of a lot of money. So if Castiel was rich, his older brother was practically a millionaire. He was a senior partner of an extremely successful law firm- the same firm, actually, that Sam was thinking of applying to after he left college. He already owned half of Manhattan, and the small Caribbean island in question.

*Wow, sucks to be that guy,* Sam thought wistfully as he pushed open the door, dreaming about what he'd do if he owned an island.

Castiel suddenly looked up at Sam. "Hey, what are you doing this summer?"

Sam shrugged as the pair began to climb the stairs, briefly stopping to glare at the 'out of order' sign on the elevator. "Nothing I guess. I've got some work to do, and I told Dean I'd drive out to Kansas to stay with him for the Fourth of July. You know, 'family spirit' and all that." He said the words with air quotes.

Truth was, though, that he did miss Dean. His older brother had always been there for him; taking care of him when their dad had run off on a bender, or driving him to school when John was too hung over to do it himself, and even getting a job and paying Sam's school fees even though he thought Sam wouldn't notice. It was because of Dean that Sam had even gotten into Stanford to study Law in the first place, and for that Sam felt like he owed his brother everything in the entire world. It was Dean that had dropped him off on his first day, with that look of pretend shame at his brother being such a nerd, and a subtle air of pride.

They still called each other a few times a month to check in, and Sam received the occasional drunk text, but apart from that Sam felt strangely disconnected from his brother. Having relied on his brother like a father for seventeen years, it felt odd not having him around. And so, as much as Sam pretended it was a chore, he liked going home to visit Dean and his auto repair shop.

"You should come with me!"

The words broke Sam out of his reverie. "Huh, sorry?" He asked, watching as Castiel slowed to a stop on the stairs and turned to face him.

"You should come with me to the Caribbean."

Sam blinked. "What? No way, Castiel, I mean, I'd love to, but I've got plans with Dean and there's no way I could afford it-"

Castiel shrugged. "Bring your brother. And I'll pay for your transport there and back, both of you."

At this, Sam's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "Are you serious?! Dude, no way, it'll cost you a fortune! No way, man, I couldn't let you do that."

Castiel's face twitched into a slight frown. "But I want to, Sam," he said seriously. "It'll spare me a lot of suffering if I have people there who aren't family. If you and Dean came-"

Sam stared at him, still in shock. "It's the freaking Caribbean! You can't just pay for me and my brother, who you've never even met by the way, to fly out there on a whim and stay with your family! They might not even want us there!"

Castiel shrugged. "It's not like Luke doesn't have the space, Sam, his place is huge. And as… Overwhelming, as my family might be, they're all nice enough and I'm sure they won't mind the extra company. And I'd like to meet your brother anyway, you speak about him often enough."

Sam chewed on his lip. "Well… I can't, anyway, I've got a ton of work to do and I'll just be a bore," he said as an excuse. No way was he letting his friend spend like $500 dollars on flying him and his brother out to a private island, nope, no way.

The shorter man smiled at him. "My brother's a lawyer, Sam, and a good one. I'm sure he won't mind helping you with your work."

Dammit. It would be awesome to actually talk to one of the most in-demand lawyers in the country, and even better to build connections to his firm through him…

"Uhh…"

"Stop searching for excuses, Sam," Castiel smiled slightly. "I'd much prefer you to be there so I wasn't alone with my family, and I know that you and Dean would enjoy yourselves. It's a very beautiful place. And with regards to the cost, it's not like I can't afford it. Please."  
Sam groaned. "I'll… I'll talk to Dean about it, but I am NOT letting you pay, okay? I'll definitely pay you back, man, I promise."

Castiel chuckled. "Thank you, Sam, but there's really no need."

Sam clapped his friend on the back. "You're sure you want us there? I mean, if it's a family thing…"

"Trust me," Castiel said seriously, "Any excuse to make it NOT be a family thing, I'll take."

 

*

 

"Sammy don't get me wrong, I'd love to, but there's no way I can afford that."

Sam ran a hand through his hair, shuffling it about slightly. "No, Dean, see that's the thing, Castiel's offered to pay for us to go."

"He _WHAT_?"

Sam winced; his brother's voice could be very loud over the phone.

"Oh my god, Sammy, we have to go. Free trip to a private island? I am so in."

"Don't call my Sammy, Dean, I'm not twelve anymore, I'm twenty two."

"Dude, this is so awesome. I'll call Bobby and tell him I'll be out of the shop for a few weeks; when do we leave?"  
Sam bit his lip. "I haven't even said yes yet, Dean."

"Well why the hell not?!"

"Because I feel bad, okay?! I mean he's going to pay for me and you to go on vacation and he's never even MET you and it'll be like a family thing! HIS family! And us two! We'll be intruding!"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Sammy."

"Stop calling me that."

"Don't be such a little bitch. And anyway, who cares? From what you've said before they're so minted they're practically royalty."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"No buts, Sammy. I want to go to the Caribbean with your rich friend and get a tan on their private island. If that makes me shallow then fine. And there might even be some hot girls there, if you get my drift, because if your friend Castiel has a bajillionaire for a brother then there's totally gonna be hot girls on his island. And I want in on that."

"Dean-"

"So when do we leave?"

" _Dean_!"

"Fine, fine, you can text me the details. Don't forget to pack your swimsuit, Sammy!"

"DON'T call me-"

The line went dead.

Sam sighed, dropping the phone down onto his lap. "-Sammy."

Well, Dean seemed pretty okay with the whole sponging-off-his-friend situation. And you know, maybe he was right, I mean, Castiel really could afford it… And it'd be nice to get away from work for a bit, it wasn't like he didn't deserve a break- Dean definitely did, he worked his ass off for years for Sam, maybe it was time something lucky happened. Sam sighed again, flopping back on his couch and reaching for his copy of David Hume's 'An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding'.

When it came down to it, the decision was pretty simple: did Sam want a free trip to a private island with his best friend and his brother, or not? The answer was obvious. And besides, Castiel was nice, so maybe the rest the Milton family were alright too. Maybe a little vacation was just what he needed.

 

*

 

He was bound to be around here somewhere. This was where they had agreed to meet after all, despite the fact that Dean had TOLD Sam it would be easier to find each other at the check-in desks than after they'd both been through security.

Dean was very nervous. Not that he'd admit it, of course, Sammy thought his whole fear of flying situation had been resolved years ago. But it was like with Sam's fear of clowns- it just wouldn't fuck off. He hadn't been on a plane in a few years, and even the idea of it was making him feel sick. Hopefully he could find something to distract him from the metal flying deathtrap. He wouldn't have agreed to go if he'd known they would be flying there, but hey, he'd already pushed Sam to say yes, and it WAS a free vacation after all...

Ah, there he was. "Hey! Sammy!"

The freakishly tall 22-year-old turned around fast, knocking himself in the knee with his hand luggage  and wincing before he caught sight of Dean.

"Hey," Sam said, grinning at his brother.

Dean dropped his bags and pulled him into a tight hug. "You've grown again, little brother, people will start to think you're Hagrid's offspring or something."

Sam laughed, shoving Dean backwards. "Fuck off, Dean, you're just jealous that I'm the taller sibling."

"You wish baby brother." Dean lightly punched his arm. "So who else is gonna be on this island, besides you and me and your college buddy?"

"Castiel," Sam corrected with a smile. "And I think it's just us and his family… I know he's got three older brothers, Mike, Luke and Gabe, and a sister Anna-"

"Is she hot?"

Sam plowed on, "-and I remember Castiel saying something about his dad, but he didn't seem sure he'd show."

"Fathers, eh?" Dean grinned at him, shoving both hands into his pockets as he glanced around. "So where exactly _is_ your friend? I thought he was supposed to meet us here before we actually got on the pla-"

"Hi Sam," came a surprisingly deep voice from behind. Dean almost jumped, but Sam just smiled and knocked the other man in the shoulder. "Hey, Castiel… Oh, this is my brother. Dean Winchester, meet Castiel Milton."

Dean turned with a smile. "Hey man, listen, we really appreciate…" He trailed off, because, well, _woah_. He was hot. Not like blonde curvy girls with big eyes and fake tans, this guy was _seriously_  Attractive. With a capital A. He was only a few inches shorter than Dean, and probably a little younger, but he was _beautiful_.

Dean admitted it freely to himself. He'd had no problems accepting that he found some guys just as appealing as girls, not since he was seventeen and realized that he had a crush on his male driving instructor. And besides, what was wrong with being attracted to both genders? It happened in ancient Greece all the time. Bi people were even worshipped there. So, hell yeah, Dean liked guys too. He preferred girls, but there were always exceptions, and this guy was _definitely_ an exception. He had messy black hair that looked like he'd just rolled straight out of bed, and electric blue eyes that gave the air of knowing more than they saw.

Dean blinked once, and somewhere far away he heard Sam clear his throat. He suddenly realized he'd just been staring straight into this dude's eyes for at least three days and he should probably stop;

"Dean," he managed, shoving his hand forward. "Nice to meetcha, Cas…" The nickname slipped out by accident, and Dean mentally kicked himself for letting it.

'Cas?', Sam mouthed, looking incredulously at Dean from behind Castiel's back. 'Smooth.' He raised both arms only to let them drop hopelessly to his sides. Dean's baby brother wasn't an idiot.

Castiel, on the other hand, didn't notice, and looked straight back at Dean without breaking eye contact. There was a slight flush to his cheeks. "Hi," he said meekly, taking Dean's hand and giving it a little experimental shake, drawing back quickly. 

This would be a pretty decent distraction to the metal flying deathtrap… Dean coughed, suddenly looking away. Moment over. "Alright, so, um, I guess we should…" he gestured vaguely to the direction of their gate.

"Yeah," Sam agreed somewhat sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Let's do that."

 

*

 

Sam spent most of the 8-hour plane journey reading his book, because when he wasn't reading his book he was forced to listen to Dean try and flirt with a socially-inept Castiel. It actually wasn't dissimilar from watching someone flirt with a  wall. In any case, it made Sam uncomfortable, so he chose to read in silence instead. 

Every now and then he'd look up and Dean and Castiel would just be looking at each other, or smiling shyly, or involved in tentative conversation about Dr. Sexy, which Sam remembered was that stupid show Dean liked to watch every Wednesday afternoon. But no matter what Dean said, Castiel remained sure-footedly on the 'awkward friends' side of the conversation. 

Sam had always known his older brother liked guys too. It had never bothered him, but it really pissed the hell out of their father. Sam had memories of John coming home drunk and screaming at his faggot son, throwing things at him, yelling abuse. Sam remembered one night in particular where John had actually broken Dean's nose and a smashing bottle had sliced a gash down the side of his neck, but even then Dean remained quiet, just taking it, not reacting at all. Sam had used to think it was strength, but as he'd gotten older he realized it was just a front for Sam. So Sam knew he had someone to look up to who wasn't their pisshead father. 

It had been at least three years since Sam or Dean had last heard from their father. John had gripped Dean by the shoulders and spat in his face, calling him a failure, and this time Dean had reacted. He'd shoved John into a table before calling the cops, and by the time the police had actually arrived John had a broken wrist, and had dug his nails so far into Dean's cheek that he'd drawn blood. A lot of blood. John had been arrested, and Dean had to be taken to the hospital for a concussion and a fractured rib.

Come to think of it, Dean probably still has that scar...

Sam glanced over sideways, eyes scanning Dean's left cheek. Oh, yeah, there it is.

Sam had escaped from that fight unscathed, as usual. John never laid a hand on him. Not once. It was always Dean.

And, wow, this was a very deep train of thought for two o'clock in the afternoon on a flight to the Caribbean.

Sighing, Sam turned back to his book. There was at least two hours of flying left, and as uncomfortable as the constant flirting made him, at least he wasn't listening to Dean harp on about death by exploding plane mid-flight. He could see Dean nervously gripping the side of the seat every time there was some turbulence, and to be honest, it made him feel a little better knowing that he had something to focus on that wasn't sudden death.

 

*

 

When they finally landed in St. Lucia, Dean was white as a sheet and Sam's entire body had cramped up from being confined to such a tiny space. His ridiculous long legs couldn't handle it. In any case, he was relieved when he was finally able to stand and stretch out properly without the confines of the plane. Dean just looked pleased to be back on the ground.

"So where to, Cas?" Dean asked, jogging slightly to catch up with him as Sam grabbed the last of his bags off the luggage carousel.

"We go by boat," Castiel said simply as they walked, Sam straining his ears to hear what was being said as he lagged a little behind. "Luke's island doesn't have an air strip yet."

"Air strip?" Questioned Dean, looking a little green.

"Yet?!" Said Sam at the exact same time.

Castiel's lips twitched into a slight smile as he led the pair through a set of double doors- the exit. He nodded his head slightly to the left. "There's our ride."

Right there, waiting for them outside, moored in the harbor, was a huge white yacht. Sam's jaw dropped, raising both eyebrows. "Are we actually allowed to go on that?"

Castiel looked a little confused as he looked over at Sam. "Yes, of course, I own it. Come on." Swinging his duffel bag over one shoulder he hauled himself up onto the boat, before turning and offering his hands out to Dean. "May I help with your luggage?"

Dean went slightly red. "No, man, I got it." He ungracefully managed to toss his bag in and clamber in after it, not without tripping over a stray mooring line and falling face-first onto the deck of the boat. There was a muffled 'ow' as Castiel rushed to help him up. Sam just laughed.

An hour and a half later they were almost there. Castiel had gone below decks to help with something, leaving Sam and Dean up on the deck in the blazing sun. Dean had stripped off his shirt and had already managed to get a little browner, but Sam was curled up in the shade trying to read. The brightness of the mid-afternoon sun was not working wonders for his eyesight.

"Hey, Sammy? Why didn't you tell me Cas was so hot?" Dean questioned from the other side of the deck. 

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Because that kind of thing doesn't often come up in casual conversation, Dean, and because I'm not gay so why should I think to mention it."

Sam could practically _hear_ Dean roll his eyes. "Wow, Sam, way to be a stereotypical white heterosexual man. You know, they hate people like you on the internet."

"Who's 'they'?"

"Everyone, Sammy. Everyone."

Sam sighed, closing his book to glare over at his brother. "For god's sake Dean, fine, I'm sorry I didn't tell you my fucking friend was hot, okay?"

Dean grinned. "Yeah, apology accepted."

Sam gave him an exasperated look and was just about to open his mouth to reply when Castiel appeared from the cabin. "We're almost there," he informed the pair, and Sam noticed he was doing anything he could to avoid looking at the half-naked Dean splayed out on his boat. "So, um, if you guys wanted to, um, get ready…"

Dean grabbed his shirt, cheeks going red as he tugged it on. "So where's the island then?"

Sam stood up with a yawn as Castiel replied, "Right ahead of us, if you want to come with me to the front I can show you…"

Dean smiled at him, turning back to wink at Sam before following Castiel. Sam rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile back as he too followed, curious to see what the island actually looked like. He heard Dean's reaction before he saw the place himself:

"Holy SHIT, dude!"

Interest piqued, Sam jogged around the corner and- woah.

 _Woah_.

It was incredible. The island itself was larger than Sam had expected it to be, beautiful sandy beaches on one side and he could see what looked like a freaking tropical forest on the other. And there, smack in the middle, was the nicest house Sam had ever seen. The three quarters of the bottom floor was glass, so you could see straight in. The other wall, the non-glass one, was just books. The entire wall was made up entirely of bookshelves, and they were stacked full to the brim, with books slipping out of the edges and forming not-so-neat piles on the floor beside the shelves. Sam could see people inside, but he wasn't yet close enough to make them out in any detail. He turned to Castiel, grinning. "Dude, how rich is your brother?!"

Castiel's eyes crinkled a little in the corners in a smile. "Very," he answered honestly, disappearing again and returning moments later with a mooring rope.

One of the figures that had previously been wandering around the house had emerged from the front door and was now standing on the dock. Castiel threw the rope at him and the man- Sam could now see it was a man, a blond one- tied the boat off. There was the sound of chains clanking together as the anchor was lowered into the perfectly still ocean, and then silence. 

They'd arrived.

 


	2. The Millionaire Himself

If he was going to be completely honest with himself, Sam's disembark from the boat probably could have been a little more graceful. However he didn't break anything, or anyone, and he escaped with only a grazed knee, so he supposed it had to be counted as a success.

Dean stood behind him, gaping at the huge glass house two hundred feet away. "Incredible," Sam heard him mutter. "Absolutely incredible. Sammy, I live in a _shed_ compared to this."

"You _do_ live in a shed, Dean. That's exactly what it is, it's a shed."

Dean didn't reply, just stared awestricken at the villa in question.

Sam glanced around, and saw Cas deep in conversation with the blond guy who had helped with the mooring. He could only see his back, but he looked to be tallish, but not compared to Sam, with an average build and averagely blond hair. Dark green t-shirt. Average. Maybe he was one of the staff here-

He turned around and caught Sam's eye. Yeah, he was just a guy. Just some bloke. He winked.

Sam instantly looked away, cheeks flushing. Awkward.

Castiel began to walk towards Sam and Dean again, and Blond Guy followed. 

"Luke, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. Guys, this is my brother Luke Milton, he owns the place."

Oh.

Oops.

"Hi," Luke practically purred, a smug smile hinting at the corners of his lips as he held a hand out to Sam. "Pleasure to have you boys come to stay."

Sam took his hand and gave it a strong shake, determined not to be put off by this guy's… Well… Creepiness. He bore almost no resemblance to Castiel, other than that unnerving piercing gaze when he looked at you that made you feel a little violated, and they both had an equally strong jawline. His eyes were blue, too, like Castiel's, except not quite the same shade. Luke's were lighter and slightly less electric in colour.

"Thanks for having us," Sam replied, catching the guy's eye again. Luke smirked, pulling his hand back and offering it to Dean, who grasped it casually. "Yeah, thanks man."

"No worries," Luke chuckled, eyes snapping back to Sam and giving him an extremely slow once-over. "I like guests."

Castiel sighed, and Sam just reddened, determined not to look at Luke anymore.

"Come on, Luke'll give you a tour of the island _if he doesn't mind_." There was a very pointed tone in Castiel's voice. "I'll put the bags in your rooms."

"I'll help," Dean said quickly, snatching his bags from off the ground. "I mean, if you'd like."

Castiel gave him a gentle smile, and Luke immediately started laughing. "Oh, Cassie, you've got eyes for this one I see-"

Sam frowned and Cas just went scarlet. "Shut up, Luke," he muttered, grabbing his bag and stalking towards the house. Dean spared a slightly confused look at Sam before jogging after him.

"That wasn't necessary," Sam couldn't help but say as soon as Castiel and Dean were out of earshot.

"No," Luke agreed. "Fun though."

Sam frowned at him; this guy was a bit of a dick. Hard to believe he was such a popular lawyer… He was beginning to reconsider his choice in career path when Luke interrupted his train of thought;

"So, Sammy boy, since the tour is obviously delayed would you be so kind as to accompany me to the house?"

Sam was immediately put on the defensive, "Don't call me that."

"Why not? You can call me by _my_ nickname."

"And what's that?"

"Luke, of course."

"Ah, yes, very funny. What's it short for; Lucas?"

"No, for Lucifer."

Sam paused. "What, really? Your name is Lucifer? You're _Satan_?"

Luke sighed, picking up Sam's bag and heading towards the house, motioning for Sam to follow. Sam did.

"No, I'm Lucifer."

"Well, yeah, I see that, but Satan's name also happens to be Lucifer."

"Yes, yes, I know."

Luke pushed open the door to the huge glass house. 

Sam followed him inside. "No offense or anything, but that's kind of an odd name."

Luke shrugged. "I quite like it. 'Lucifer'. It's Italian, you know."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but there's the obvious connotation attached…"

Luke winked at him. "I drew the short straw, I'm afraid. All of us have angel names. Our mother was really religious."

"And what was her name?"

"Angela."

"Oh, naturally."

Luke smirked. "You're sassy, I like you. I'm going to keep you." 

"Um." Sam hoped he looked a little less victimized than he felt. He felt the need to quickly change the subject. "So, angel names?"

"Yes. Michael and Gabriel, obviously, and Castiel, Annael and Lucifer."

"Mike, Gabe, Cas, Anna and Luke," Sam said, nodding. "Well, I can see why you want people to call you the shortened version…"

Luke chuckled lightly. "You can call me whatever you want, honey."

"Except Luciebear, he hates that one. Trust me," came a different voice- this one was a lot less intimidating.

Another man was lounging on a creme sofa by the kitchen, one leg draped over the side. "Gabe," Luke said sharply. "Shoes off the leather, that couch is worth more than your kidneys."

"Sorry," the man called Gabe muttered, jumping off the sofa and moving forwards to greet Sam. He was, Sam noticed, wearing a necklace made of Strawberry Laces. Interesting.

"You must be Sam. Or Dean. Either one. Anyway, I'm Gabriel, call me Gabe, and welcome to Luke's fabulous house on this fabulous island which I fabulously helped him choose and decorate," the man said all at once, giving a twirly bow. He was a lot shorter than Sam, with hair almost just as long, and with bright, golden eyes which held the same electricity as Castiel's. God, what was with this family and _eyes_?!

"Sam," he said with a slightly forced smile and a little nod. "And, um, yeah, nice job with the whole… Designing… Thing… It's really something, man." That part at least was honest, the house _was_ amazing.

Luke smirked. "Gabriel, you've overwhelmed the new house pet."

Sam was about to object to being called a pet when Gabe laughed, throwing his arm carelessly around Sam's shoulders. "Nah I haven't, we'll get along just fine. Right Moose?"

At the new nickname, Sam had to laugh. "Moose? Really?"

Gabe's eyes twinkled with barely withheld amusement. "Hell yeah! I'm great at giving nicknames to people."

"You should let other people tell you they're great," Luke muttered, collapsing onto the sofa with a sort of lazy, half-arsed grace. 

"They do," argued Gabriel over Sam's laughter. "For example, you're Moose, Luke is Shithead-"

"That's quite enough," came a girl's voice and a laugh from the front door.

"Anna, sweetheart!" Luke jumped off the sofa and pulled the redhead at the door into a tight hug. Sam could hear the sounds of her muffled laughter. "Heya, Luke," she giggled. "Long time no see..."

"How long's it been, baby girl?"

"At least a year; too long, far too long."

"That's what happens when you skip out on Christmas," Luke laughed.

"Well I had better things to do," she smiled. "Bigger fish to fry, as they say."

When Luke pulled back he was grinning, arm still slung across Anna's shoulders. She was pretty, Sam thought, with her long red hair and hazel-green eyes.

Gabriel got to his feet and went over to ruffle her hair. "Alright, kiddo?"

"Yeah," Anna smiled, smoothing her hair down as she spoke. "How've you been since I saw you last?"

Gabriel laughed. "It was two weeks ago, love, not much has changed."

Sam thought he saw a twinge of sympathy in Anna's eyes, but it was soon gone as her eyes met his. "And who is this? My god, you're taller than Michael!"

Sam laughed. *I haven't met Michael yet, have I?* "I'm Sam," he said with a smile, holding out his hand to her. "I'm a friend of Castiel's, me and my brother are staying here for a few weeks."

Anna gave his hand a graceful shake, smiling back. "It's a pleasure, Sam," she said with a delicate smile. "Any friend of Cassie's."

" _Only_ friend of Cassie's," Luke corrected, for which Anna punched his arm. Sam thought he saw Luke hold back a wince.

"Don't be horrible, Luke, he's just a lot shyer than us."

"I do believe, fair maiden, that the term is a _recluse_ ," Gabriel chuckled. 

Anna threw her purse at his head.

"Hey, speaking of Cassie, where is he? I haven't seen him in an age… And Mike, is he here yet?"

Luke shook his head. "Michael doesn't arrive until tomorrow. And I think Castiel's upstairs with Sam's brother, who's name I have again forgotten-"

"Dean."

"That's right, Dean- they were, and I quote, 'putting the luggage away'," he smirked.

Sam rolled his eyes, and Gabe let out a snort of laughter. "You know, if I didn't know Castiel any better I'd say he was avoiding me. Stormed straight past me when he arrived, and-" he jerked his thumb at Sam, "-his brother came rushing past a few seconds later. It's almost like someone pissed dear little Cassie off," he said knowingly, staring straight at Luke.

Luke grinned innocently. "What, me? Gabriel, the cheek of such an accusation!"

Anna sighed, rolling her eyes as she picked up her cherry red duffel bag. "You know, for a lawyer you're really not very good at making your case," she said with a flick of her hair. "I'm going to find Cas," she announced. "I'll see you boys later." She gave Sam a wink. "Don't let them get to you, they just require a lot of attention." She jogged up the stairs before either of her brothers could throw back a retort.

Sam grinned at Gabe, then Luke. "I like her. She's my favourite."

"Um, rude!" Gabriel laughed.

Luke just flicked up an eyebrow and gave Sam a sly grin. "That'll change."

Sam smirked at him. "You really shouldn't be so full of yourself, you know. I'm not gay, but even if I was, you're nothing special. Other than your net worth, of course."

Gabriel 'oooohh'ed behind Luke as he replied with an airy laugh, "Oh but Sam, love, you shouldn't write people off so fast! Gabriel, please could you show our handsome new friend here to his room?" He rested a hand on Sam's shoulder, breathing deeply. "You smell nice, by the way," he purred softly next to Sam's ear. "Lavender cologne?"

"What the fuck," Sam said, shocked. He edged away slowly.

"How come I have to do it, you're not doing anything!"

Sam supposed Gabriel wasn't going to say anything about Luke's blatant sexual harassing, then.

"I'm the millionaire, sweet cheeks, I get to order people around, and if they don't do what I say I can get them deported," Luke said sweetly.

"Fine," Gabriel muttered, before looking up at Sam with a grin and saying brightly, "Come on then, Moose!"

 

*

 

 Dean was leaning against the doorframe, watching as Cas folded another one of his shirts and placed it carefully in the drawer. "So you guys didn't actually grow up together?"

"No," Cas answered, reaching into his suitcase again. "My parents divorced when Luke and Michael were eight-"

"They're twins?"

"No, just very close in age. They're only ten months apart."

"Oh, woah."

"Yeah; so anyway Michael and Gabriel grew up with our father, and myself, Luke and Anna lived with our mother. Gabriel hated being separated, though; he and my father never saw eye-to-eye."

 "Yeah, I think I know what you mean," Dean agreed, running a hand through his hair as he watched Cas' back. The dude was sweet, he'd realized, in a naive sort of way. He was like a child in the way that he always seemed to be a few steps behind on the conversation, and didn't really seem to fully understand everything that was going on. Dean kind of liked it- it was a refreshing change from the bible-bashing redneck folks of where he came from.

He could hear footsteps coming up from behind him, and he was about to turn and ask Sammy where he'd been before he realized it was a girl. And a pretty girl at that. That must be Cas' sister…

"Hi," Dean said awkwardly, and the attractive redhead smiled at him.

"Hey yourself. You must be Dean. I'm Anna, Cassie's sister."

Yep, sister.

"Anna," Cas said, turning around with a smile. "It's fantastic to see you again."

Anna grinned, moving quickly over to the other man and enveloping him in a tight hug. "Hi Cas…"

"I was just explaining to Dean the peculiar mechanics of our family."

"Of course you were," Anna chuckled, turning to give Dean a knowing look. "Sorry if he was boring you, he does that sometimes-"

"I wasn't being boring," Cas said defensively, while Anna laughed.

Dean grinned. "He really wasn't, I was interested! I like learning about people."

There was a little pause.

"I don't mean that in a creepy way, I just… I like knowing people. Oh god-"

Anna laughed, and Cas let out a little chuckle of his own. "I think we get it," the redhead said teasingly, ruffling Cas' hair as she took a step back. "Organising your closet already, Cassie? Didn't you only just get here?"

"I like organizing," Cas mumbled, reaching for another shirt. "And you know full well how I feel about these family event things that Luke plans-"

"I know, I know," Anna chuckled. "I was just kidding, I'm sorry. And I thought that was why you invited Dean and Sam along, right?" She shot Dean a smile, and he returned it. "So it wouldn't be just us? Smart move, to be honest with you, Michael and Luke aren't exactly going to be on the best of terms this year..."

"Why not?" Dean asked curiously, before going a little red. "I mean, if it's none of my business then forget it, I was just wondering…"

Anna smiled at him, but Cas answered before she could. "No, it's fine," he said, turning to lock his eyes on Dean's. Dean swallowed but didn't look away, he kind of liked how intense Cas could look sometimes. He'd only known the guy for a day but it felt like forever. "The refusal by my father to show up caused some… Friction, between them. Luke only invites him out of courtesy, but Mike actually wants him to come. When Luke and Gabriel continually tried to scare him off it caused Michael some annoyance, but now it's actually worked…" Cas drifted off.

"Let's just say that things aren't going to be pretty," Anna supplied. She managed a small smile. "Hey, welcome to summer holidays with the Milton family."

Dean gave her a sympathetic smile. "If it helps, I know what it's like to have a difficult father, and to be honest sometimes you just gotta roll with it."

"Exactly," Cas murmured, delicately folding a shirt which Dean noticed was the same colour of his eyes. 

Anna was watching them both with a knowing smile. "Alrighty boys, I'm off to make sure Luke hasn't transformed my room into an aquarium or something," she chuckled, giving Cas a squeeze on the shoulder and Dean a smile. "I'll catch you later."

"Bye Anna," Cas called over his shoulder, Dean offering a little wave as the redhead trotted out of sight.

"So, Cas, which room am I having?"

"Oh my god I am so sorry, I'll show you…" Cas stumbled around the bed, looking guilty. "I'd forgotten I didn't already do that…"

Dean laughed. "Hey, it's okay, man, no worries."

Cas gave him a small smile. "Um, you and Sam can have these two…" He gestured to the door opposite his and the one next to it, which was opposite another door, which was painted pink. Dean guessed it was Anna's room.

"Okay, thanks," Dean smiled. "I'll take this one I guess…" He pushed open the door opposite Cas' room, and his mouth stretched into a smile once he saw the inside. One of the walls was entirely glass, and had the most incredible view of the ocean that Dean had ever seen.

He could practically hear Cas' smile from behind him. "Good choice."

 

*

 

Sam was still a little annoyed at Dean getting what was obviously the best room, but his own was still incredible so he couldn't be too mad. Having unpacked his stuff, he'd gone downstairs again, only to be completely overwhelmed by the Gabriel vs. Luke situation at hand and then dragged out of the house by Castiel to go fishing. 

"Cas, I've never actually been fishing before, you know that right?" Sam complained as his friend dragged him down to the dock they'd arrived at, nearly tripping over the end of his fishing rod which he guessed he was holding wrong. "I'll only mess it up for you-"

"Then I'll teach you," Cas said determinedly, sitting himself down on the dock with crossed legs and beginning to untangle the long line he'd brought with him.

Sam sat uncomfortably next to him, unsure of what he was doing. "Why didn't you ask Dean to go fishing with you?" He groaned. "Or Anna, or Gabriel, Luke…"

"Because Gabe was busy trying to get dinner organised, Dean's taking a nap and Anna's probably off doing girly things. Luke doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do, and so you were the only option."

"Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Sam grinned; the other man really had no concept of sarcasm whatsoever.

Twenty minutes later they'd managed to get all the gear set up, and were just sitting on the dock with their lines in the water, watching the gentle waves lap at the side of the dock. The sun was beating down mercilessly on them, and Sam was sure that he was going to get some seriously uneven tan lines from his shirt and sunglasses.

"Hey Sam?" Cas said after a while, having just as little luck as Sam with his fishing line. 

"Yeah, Cas?" He'd picked up the nickname pretty quickly after Dean had started using it, it was a lot easier than calling him 'Castiel' all the time.

"Does Dean have a girlfriend?"

Sam laughed. "That's a pretty blunt question, Cas," he teased, knocking his friend's shoulder with his own.

Castiel went scarlet. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Sam grinned at him. "Hey, no, it's fine, it was just a very out-of-the-blue question. And, um, no, Dean doesn't have a girlfriend. Not that I know of, anyway."

Cas seemed to perk up a little at that, which Sam couldn't help but find hilarious. He'd have to talk to Anna later about setting the pair up, as it seemed like something the younger girl might be interested in doing. Sam wondered how old she even was; Nineteen? Not much older than that, he suspected. She must be tough as nails, though, growing up with four older brothers- and by Luke's expression when she punched his arm, she clearly was.

Luke's expression.

Luke.

God, he was weird. He'd be quite chilled out and nice to talk to one minute, and then he'd say something either rude or creepy, sometimes both, and everything would turn awkward. Like just now, in the kitchen, Gabriel and Sam had been discussing what Gabriel was going to make for dinner (turns out they shared a passion for cooking) and Luke had stood very much too close to Sam and said in a low voice, "I think you should help him cook, Sam, it'll be more delicious if you do it. And I like watching." What was that even supposed to mean?!

In a way, he was grateful for Cas dragging him out to go fishing because he didn't have to hear Luke and Gabe argue. After a few minutes of creeping on Sam, Luke had decided he was going to piss the hell out of Gabriel by swapping all the labels on the spice jars when he went to use the bathroom. Even though it was Luke's kitchen, Gabe went crazy and by the time Sam and Cas were leaving, Luke was being chased around the kitchen by a very short, very angry man armed with a wooden spoon.

Sam sighed. It was nice to sit out here in the late afternoon sun with Castiel, and, creepy millionaires and obvious sexual harassment aside, it hadn't been such a bad day.

"Sam, you've got a bite, reel it in!"

"Oh shit, Cas help-"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone's confused about what Strawberry Laces are, they're these red strings of strawberry flavoured sweets that taste like heaven. when I was on D of E one time my friend tied them together and made a necklace out of them, so I decided to give one to gabriel xD  
> -cat


	3. Michael Arrives

By the time Sam woke up the next morning, the sun was already blaring through the curtains and the sound of people talking could be heard from downstairs. Sam yawned, rolling over sideways- onto to promptly fall off the bed and on to the ground.

"Ow," he grumbled, standing up and stretching out his back. "Ow, ow, ow…" He pulled open the curtains and grinned at the stunning scene in front of him. You could say what you like about the company here, but there really were the most incredible views Sam had ever seen. He ran a hand through his hair, and- ew. Yep. He needed to shower. Like, now.

Sam grabbed his wash stuff, a change of clothes and a towel and exited his room. The bathroom was a few doors down; as he'd discovered last night his was one of only two rooms (the other being Dean's) that didn't have an en suite. Not that he minded, it wasn't exactly a long walk.

He was pleased to discover that the beautiful bathroom- yes, even the bathrooms were beautiful here- wasn't currently occupied. However, he was significantly less pleased to discover that there wasn't a lock. Oh well, he thought to himself, everyone else has an en suite and Dean's not deaf; he'll be able to hear the water running. He turned on the shower to the hottest setting and stripped off his clothes, letting out a deep sigh as he stepped into the running water. And yeah, this was the greatest water pressure ever. Man he loved this island.

Just as Sam was scrubbing the last of the shampoo out of his hair, he heard the door swing open. Expecting it to be Dean, Sam shouted, "Oi, jackass, it's occupied!" And hoped that he couldn't be seen through the water vapour generated by the heat of the shower.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine," came a voice that was definitely not Dean.

"Luke, what the hell?!" Sam shouted, whirling around and snatching a towel off the hanger, trying to cover himself up. "I'm in the shower, dude!"

"I know," Luke said slowly, speaking to Sam as though he were stupid. "I'm not an idiot, Sam." He was brushing his teeth. Actually brushing his teeth. And staring at Sam. Really, really staring.

"Get out!"

Luke spat a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink and rinsed his toothbrush off a little before putting it back in his mouth. "No," he said simply. "It's my house."

"You actually _are Satan,_ " Sam yelled.

"Whaaat?" Luke said innocently. "It's not like neither of us have ever seen a naked man before, considering we're both men and at some point in our lives both been naked-"

" _LUKE_!"

"Yes, my sun and stars?"

"OUT! NOW!"

Luke chuckled, rinsing the rest of the toothpaste off his toothbrush. "Fine, fine, I'm going…" He sauntered out of the room, pulling the door neatly shut behind him. It closed with a little click.

Sam just stood there, water still running and towel soaking wet, wearing an expression of complete shock. "That has to be illegal," he said out loud to himself. "It just has to be."

There was a silence, and just the sound of running water filled the room before Sam spoke out loud to himself again.

"Did he quote Game of Thrones at me?"

 

*

 

Dean was laughing so hard there were actual tears running down his face. Even Cas beside him couldn't stop smiling, and Gabriel was just in fits of laughter at his own story.

"And… And then she said to the bartender, 'But why not? _That_ guy got one!'"

Anna snorted into her bacon, nearly dropping the fork, which just made Dean laugh even harder. "I did NOT say that!" She denied, although she was laughing so hard that it was barely audible.

Gabe just nodded, wiping tears out of his eyes. "She did, I swear, and the look on his face was just _priceless_ …"

Luke jogged lightly down the stairs, wearing a very decidedly black outfit today. Dean could see the confusion on his face as he stared at the little group in hysterics at the kitchen table.

"Morning Luke," Dean called, raising a hand slightly in greeting.

"Nice of you to grace us with your presence, O Great One," Gabe giggled, and Anna hit him. "It's not even really the afternoon yet, it's only 1:30!" The shorter man continued. Dean laughed.

Luke raised an eyebrow, grinning at them all. "What's this, have we bonded over breakfast?"

"Brunch," Anna corrected him. "It's only breakfast if it's in the morning."

Cas let out a soft breath of laughter, and answered Nick's question directly. "Bonded… Been humiliated… Same thing…"

Gabe let out a hooting noise and Anna went scarlet. "Cassie!" She said accusingly. "You're supposed to be on my side! You were there, tell Dean what really happened!"

Cas shook his head seriously. "No, no, I'm going to stay out of this one."

Dean grinned at Cas and clapped a hand to his back. "Good idea, dude." He could be so unintentionally hilarious sometimes, it was adorable. And wow, that was a little girly.

Luke laughed, moving over to the stove and snatching up a piece of bacon. He dropped it in his mouth.

"Oh for god's sake, Lucifer, use a plate," Anna said exasperatingly, gesturing to the unused two plates right beside him.

"No," Luke said with a mouthful of food. "I like eating like this."

"How old are you, six?!"

"I'm twenty eight and old enough to make my own life decisions."

"Lucifer?" Dean questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's my name."

"No it's not," Dean said incredulously. "Lucifer? Really?"

Luke shrugged. "Yeah."

At that moment, Dean caught sight of another figure moving down the stairs. "Sammy!" He called out happily from his seat at the kitchen table. "Guess what! Gabe made bacon!"

"I'm great at bacon," Gabe said, stretching in his chair and nearly smacking Cas in the face.

"Watch it, Gabriel, there's people around."

"Sorry, sorry."

Sam walked into the kitchen just then, hair still damp from the shower. "Did someone say bacon?" He asked with a grin, and after Gabe pointed him in the right direction he grabbed a plate and immediately filled it.

"See, Luke, _he_ used a plate," Anna said snidely.

"Because _he_ wasn't raised in a barn," Dean said proudly.

"It was a shed, actually," chuckled Sam, earning him a mock glare from Dean and a laugh from Anna.

"Well, when the two of us weld together to form one person with the same ideals and habits, I'll let you know," Luke said lazily, waving a hand dismissively at her. He was stretched out like a cat on the sofa now, Dean noticed, basking in the morning sun.

Dean also noticed Sam trying his damnedest not to look at him. He was focussing quite intently on the mound of bacon he'd acquired.

"Hey Sammy, you okay?" Dean asked, looking concernedly over at his brother.

"What? Oh, yeah Dean, I'm super." He quickly shoved more bacon in his mouth.

Dean glanced back over at Luke, who was staring curiously at Sam, and then at Sam, who was trying (and definitely failing) to pretend not to notice. He was suddenly distracted by Cas' hand on his arm. He looked curiously up at Cas, green eyes locking on to bright blue.

"Dean, do you want me to show you the swimming pool?"

 

*

 

For Sam, the rest of the morning was horrifically awkward. He couldn't even eat his damned bacon without feeling Luke's piercing eyes on him, only now whenever he was being stared at all he could hear in his head was, 'He's seen you naked, Sam'. It wasn't a good start to the day.

His mood didn't exactly improve when, half an hour later, Castiel and Dean disappeared off to go swimming, leaving him alone with Luke, Gabe and Anna. It was alright to begin with, because he spent a while chatting to Anna about university (he discovered that she attended Rhode Island School of Design) and to Gabriel about Star Wars vs. Star Trek (Apparently the shorter man was an avid Spock fan). It was only when Anna left to Skype a friend from school, and when Gabe decided to take an apres-brunch nap, that things got a little more uncomfortable.

It was just Sam and Luke in the kitchen, then; Luke sprawled out across the sofa with his eyes closed, and Sam standing awkwardly by the kitchen table watching him. He looked a lot less evil like that, Sam decided, a lot less creepy. In fact, he looked kind of sweet, with his chest rising and falling slowly with his breathing and his blond hair being tossed about in all directions by the pillow supporting it, shining slightly golden in the sunlight-

Wait no what the fuck, where did that thought come from?

Nope. Nope nope nope. Stop it, Sam. Stop it now.

He shook his head slightly to clear it, grabbing his books and papers from the table. If he was going to be alone, he might as well get some work done.

And that was how he found himself sitting outside in a deck chair ten minutes later, sunglasses pushed up into his hair and leaning over his 5000-word draft essay on the pros and cons of Capital Punishment in the United States. He sighed as he spotted a significant spelling error, reaching for his pen and scribbling the word out, rewriting it above.

"I could help you, you know," came a voice that was becoming all too familiar.

"No thanks," Sam sighed, not even turning to acknowledge Luke's presence. "No offence, but I don't exactly need the help of a sexual predator."

Luke leaned over the back of Sam's chair, inspecting the essay title. "No," he agreed, sitting on the grass beside Sam's feet and lying down on his back, soaking up the sun like a cat. "But you _could_  use the help of a successful professional lawyer, am I correct? I've actually written a paper and giving a marvellously compelling speech on exactly that matter, and-" 

Sam let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Look, I'd really appreciate it if you just shut up, actually," he muttered, going back to his work. As useful it would be to have a professional's help, Luke wasn't exactly the type of guy Sam wanted to buddy up with, and after this morning the desire to get to know him was even less than it had been before.

Luke shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said in a singsong voice, pulling out his iPhone and some earbuds and putting them in.

Sam shot him a little glare as he settled back into the grass, sighing deeply, and pressed play.

They managed to coexist in peaceful silence for about half an hour before, naturally, it all went south again. Sam had reached the last of his reference texts and, of course, who was it written by but the great Luke Milton himself.

"Unbelievable," Sam said loudly, dropping his books to the ground with a thump. "I give up. I'm done. Done with everything."

Luke lifted himself up onto his elbows, frowning at Sam from under his sunglasses, which he was holding just on his hairline. "Everything alright there, kid?"

Sam glared at him. "Yeah," he snapped back sarcastically. "Just peachy, thanks."

Luke sighed, reaching forwards and snatching the papers off the ground. "Well would you look at that," he smirked, pointing at his own name. "Look, there I am. Right there. What did I tell you, Sammy?"

"Don't call me Sammy," Sam said through gritted teeth. 

"It's just funny, is all. You reject my help and even then you have no choice but to use my words in your text; it's ironic, is it not?"

"Bite me, Luke."

"Maybe later, big boy," he replied with a wink.

"Arrogant son of a bitch," Sam muttered, snatching the paper back and gathering all his books off the floor again. 

Luke laughed softly. "Damn right I'm arrogant." He replaced his sunglasses on his nose. "First rule of being a lawyer, Sam; never admit that anyone else is better than you."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Got any more helpful tips there, Plato?" He grumbled.

Luke grinned up at him, and Sam could just make out the smugness in his eyes through the tinted glass. "Why, are you interested?"

 

*

 

Everything went quiet as Dean dove into the pool. He loved that about the water; you forgot everything as soon as you were submerged, because everything just went… Silent. Still. He pushed himself off the bottom, enjoying the rush that lasted a few seconds as he shot to the top. As soon as his head broke free of the water he took a deep breath, shaking his head and spraying water from his hair everywhere. He grinned over at Cas, who had jumped in just seconds before him but was now perched on the side, smiling back at him. "You up for a race?"

 

*

 

Sam and Luke were now sitting cross-legged on the soft grass together, bent over Sam's research papers with a highlighter in Luke's hand and a pen in Sam's. Every now and then, Luke would look up at him and say something quietly, gesturing with the highlighter, and Sam would nod and write it down. Sam was actually quite surprised at just how helpful the older man was; there were no snide remarks, no bizarre sexual gestures, nothing. He was just genuinely nice, genuinely helpful. It was a bit of a shock.

Sam couldn't help but watch Luke as he read. He had swapped his sunglasses for the black-framed reading ones again, and as his eyes scanned each page he'd get a small crease in his forehead that made Sam smile a little bit. It was kind of endearing, after all, for such a horribly evil person to have such a mundane thing as wrinkles.

"…Oh, and here, you might want to put a semi colon instead of a colon because it's not a list," Luke added as an afterthought once they'd reached the end of the essay, and Sam nodded again, crossing it out. "Got it," he murmured. "Thanks for your help, Luke."

Luke looked up at him, half his mouth curled into a smile. "Don't mention it. And I mean really, don't, because if Gabriel finds out I've been- god forbid- _helpful,_ he'll expect it from me all the time, and that's not a commitment I'm willing to make, Sam."

Sam grinned. "Don't worry," he chuckled, "Your secret's safe with me." 

Their eyes met for a second, and Sam suddenly became very, very aware of just how close together they were sitting. Close enough, in fact, that if he wanted all he had to do was lean forwards and-

"Work, Sammy?! On a day like this?!"

Sam sighed, instantly moving back away from Luke and un-crossing his legs, facing Dean. "Did you guys have a nice swim?"

Dean and Cas were both still dripping wet, towels slung around their necks and shirts over their shoulders.

"Yeah," Dean said with a grin, wrapping his arm around Cas' shoulders. "Did you know that he used to be a competitive swimmer in high school? He's still really good; he beat me just now like, three times, right?"

Cas' cheeks had gone red as he smiled at the ground. "Swimming's not exactly hard to forget," he mumbled in an attempt at modesty, but Dean just laughed and nudged him with his elbow.

Sam watched them both with a smile, and Luke cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me for a minute," he muttered, getting hurriedly to his feet and nearly tripping over the deck chair behind him.

Sam watched him with an expression of concern as he straightened up, pushed his glasses up into his hair and began to walk towards the dock, where… Oh, Sam hadn't even noticed that, where a speedboat was attempting to anchor.

"What was that all about?" Dean asked in a hushed voice, sounding confused. Sam shared a look with him before turning to look at Cas, who'd gone white as a sheet.

"Cas?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"Michael," Cas murmured. "Michael's arrived."

"Oh, well that's good, isn't it? The other brother's here, didn't you guys invite him?"

"No, not good," Cas said sadly, watching as Luke approached the boat, and the dark-haired man who had just stepped off it onto the dock. "Really very much not good. It would've been fine, but-"

"Your dad refused to come," Dean finished, watching the newcomer just as closely.

Sam frowned, looking from one to the other. "Guys, am I missing something here?"

He looked back over at Luke and who he assumed was Michael just in time to see Luke put both hands idly in his pockets in that suave manner he had, and for the taller man to remain completely still for a moment, before swinging a full-blown punch at Luke's face.

"Oh shit," Sam and Dean said at the same time, and within seconds all three of them, Cas included, were sprinting towards the dock.

" _This is all your fault,_ " Michael was screaming as Luke punched him just as hard back, blood dripping from his nose onto his shirt, where it faded into the black fabric. "If YOU hadn't behaved like such a childish BITCH then this family wouldn't have fallen apart!"

"MY fault?!" Luke shouted back, ducking as Michael aimed a heavy swing at his face. "MINE? YOU'RE the child, Michael! YOU'RE the one who-" He wasn't quick enough that time, and Michael's punch to his gut knocked the wind out of him, causing him to stagger sideways. 

"Alright, alright, break it up now boys," Dean said loudly, pushing in between them and forcing Michael to move backwards. Sam ran to Luke, helping him to stand up straight while Cas yelled for Gabriel and Anna.

Michael made another move towards Luke again and Dean shoved him back, glaring. "Hey, cut it out, man!"

"Who the fuck are YOU?!"

"Are you okay?" Sam asked Luke quietly, and the older man just glared and shoved him off. "Yeah, 'm fine." Clutching his chest and swearing loudly he managed to half run, half stagger back towards the house, shoving the new arrivals of Anna and Gabriel out of his way and slamming the door behind him. Anna hesitated for a moment before running after Gabriel and arriving only a few seconds after him.

"What the hell, Michael?!" Gabriel demanded; the shorter man was apparently really fucking scary when angry, Sam would keep that in mind. "You've been here a few, what, minutes, and decide it's appropriate to punch out your fucking brother?! Really, man?!"

"Hey Gabe," Michael said calmly, dabbing at his own bleeding nose with the corner of his sleeve. "How's the band?"

"Nonexistant, how's the love life?" Was Gabriel's retort, and Anna put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to calm down a little bit.

Sam ran a hand through his hair, looking stressed. He exchanged a worried look with Dean. "Hey, um, shouldn't someone go and find Luke…?"

"No," said Anna, Cas, and Gabe all at the same time.

Sam frowned, and thankfully Castiel explained.

"He doesn't like being made a fuss of," he said quietly.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I mean I don't wanna argue, but, that's definitely exactly what he likes."

Cas shook his head slightly. "No, not like this. Trust me, it's better if we just leave him to it."

Gabriel and Anna were talking in hushed voices, and as hard as Sam tried to catch what they were saying, he couldn't hear a word.

"Hey, Sam and Dean, if you don't mind we'd like to have a word with our brother," Anna said after a moment, locking eyes with Michael. "A family intervention, of sorts."

"No, of course not," mumbled Dean, grabbing Sam's arm and pulling him along. "C'mon, Sam…"

Cas remained behind with his sister and brothers, and as soon as Dean and Sam were a decent distance away they could hear an argument begin to form like a hurricane.

"Oh jesus," Sam sighed, shaking his head slightly as he collapsed into one of the deck chairs in the garden.

"Yep," Dean agreed, sliding into the other one. "And we thought we had daddy issues."

 

 


	4. It's a Chess Match, Sammy

It had been a few days since The Arrival Of The Oldest Milton Sibling, and Sam wasn't sure that the tension had completely evaporated yet. 

Luke was still in a bad mood. In fact, the only person it seemed who _wasn't_ in a bad mood was Gabriel, and that was because apparently the dude was a freaking boomerang; throw him as hard as you can and he still comes right back.

Sam had learned to just pass the time by working. It was exactly what he'd be doing at home, but at least here he could be in the warmth of the sun while he did it. Every now and then Luke would emerge from wherever he was spending all his time these days, offer Sam a few minutes of help, but as soon as anyone else showed up he'd slink away again.

A few times Anna had tried to take food up to his room, whichever one that was, but Luke insisted through the door that he'd eat when he came downstairs.

No one had ever actually _seen_ him eating downstairs, however, and so Anna kept trying.

Dean and Cas were finding ways to distract themselves, too. Sam would see them going off for walks in the woods, or going to the pool, or going to play a really haphazard game of tennis which almost always resulted in Dean pulling a muscle and Cas having to half carry, half drag him back to the house.

Michael usually kept to himself. Sam had exchanged a few words with him, cordial and slightly strained, nothing too friendly. Every attempt he made at politeness seemed a little forced, Sam thought, a little fake. Like he was trying too hard.

Michael and Luke were actually more similar than Sam had first thought. They looked almost nothing alike; Michael had darker hair, darker eyes, darker skin. Michael was taller, too, and aside from the characteristic of freakishly piercing eyes, the brothers might as well just not even be related in the slightest. However it was in the way they carried themselves that Sam saw the similarities.

There was a sense of lazy grace in their movements, an air of pride and self-worth that just filled the space around them. With Michael, it was almost a sense of righteousness, whereas with Luke it was simply selfish. In any case, their movements, their expressions, and actions, every move they made mirrored the other perfectly.

It was weird.

Mealtimes were the worst. The rest of the time the Milton family could avoid eachother; pretend to go take naps, or have showers, but at mealtimes they were all forced to sit down at the table together and have at least some form of conversation.

Sam hated mealtimes, and he assumed Dean did as well.

The dinner they'd had after Luke and Michael's punching match had been the worst. Luke had been absent, of course, and Michael had taken his seat. The absence of the arrogant blond and his replacement by the dark statue who obviously the others weren't too comfortable with made for very difficult conversation.

After three days of this, Anna had finally had enough.

"It's just ridiculous," she complained to Sam one afternoon after lunch, as they sat on the deck chairs in the garden together. "Luke _always_ does this, he _always_ has to play the victim. It's childish, Sam it's pathetic."

Sam couldn't help but agree. He remembered one time when he was a lot younger when Dean refused to let him have the last bowl of Lucky Charms and Sam had hidden in his closet for almost an entire day. He recounted this story to Anna, who nodded.

"That's exactly what he's like: a sulky child. Won't come out of his room, won't let anyone else _into_ his room-"

"He's been downstairs a few times, actually, I've seen him."

"Oh, well I never have."

"Maybe you should try and force him to come to meals again?"

Anna shook her head. "No, Luke doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do."

The words sounded familiar to Sam… That's right, Cas had said almost those exact words a few days earlier. "Why, is he stubborn?"

"Stubborn and unstable," Anna muttered, brushing her red hair back into a ponytail with her hands and pulling a scrunchie around it. 

Sam watched her curiously. "What's that supposed to-"

"Afternoon," said Michael, emerging from the glass doors to the garden.

"Hey, Mike," Anna sighed, leaning further back into her deck chair.

Sam gave the older man a little nod of acknowledgement, which Michael returned.

"Are you enjoying your stay so far?" Michael asked Sam, watching him carefully.

"Yeah," Sam said with a slight nod. "Yeah, I am. It's a beautiful place."

"Not what I would have chosen," Michael said airily. "I would've chosen somewhere more classy. Like Italy, or France."

"Well when you're rich enough to afford Italy or France you just let us know," Anna said sweetly, unable to hold herself back.

Sam had to turn away to stop Michael from seeing the grin on his face at her words.

Michael replied sternly, "Money isn't everything, Annael. It's what you make of it."

"Irrelevant," Anna muttered.

"Okay," Sam said quickly, getting to his feet. "I'm gonna go bring Luke some lunch; Anna, which room is his."

"The one with the stupid pink door."

"…That's not your room?"

"No of course not, why would I want a door that hideously coloured?"

"I don't know, I just assumed-"

"Well, that's Luke's."

"Got it, I'll bring him some food."

"Thanks, Sam."

Sam gave her a small smile, and Michael another nod, before quickly re-entering the house. Why did Michael make everything so uncomfortable? It was a gift, really, a natural talent.

Sam slapped together a ham and cheese sandwich and pulled a diet coke out of the fridge before taking the stairs two at a time. He passed his own bedroom door and turned to face the pink one, an eyebrow raised in scrutiny. If Anna was messing with him...

He knocked twice on the door. "Room service," he called sarcastically. "Luke, open up."

"No," came the singsong reply. "Go away, Sam."

"No," Sam mocked, rolling his eyes. "C'mon, Luke, please. You need to eat something."

He was rewarded with total silence.

"Oh for god's sake."

Still nothing.

Sam sighed and put the food down on the floor, crossing his arms. "You know, Luke, for a millionaire and a successful business person, you're acting like a sulky six-year-old boy. It's pathetic, actually, how much of a petulant child you can be if you wanted to."

Gabe's head emerged from a door a few meters down, and he wore a grin that could only be described as shit-eating. He motioned with his hands for Sam to keep going.

Sam nodded slightly before continuing, "And you know what, you might think you're making everyone concerned about you, and fuss over you, but all you're really doing is pissing everyone the fuck off with your stupid attention-whore shit. I swear to god, Lucifer...-"

"Noah," Gabriel supplied eagerly.

"-Lucifer Noah Milton, if you don't come out of that room _right_ now so help me god I am going to kick the fucking door down and drag you downstairs myself, just to put the rest of your fucking family out of their misery. You're being ridiculous."

Gabriel was standing right beside Luke's horrendously pink door now, and he looked poised to jump on Luke the second he opens the door. Sam wasn't going to question it.

Nothing happened. And then, veeeery slowly, Sam heard footsteps approaching from behind the pink door. It opened very slowly, and he was greeted by Luke's glaring face. "That was a little rude, Sammy, don't you think?"

Gabriel let out some kind of battle cry attempt and shoved the door open fully, grabbing Luke in a headlock and dragging him forcefully out of the room.

Luke was half yelling at him, half laughing, and by the time Sam had pulled the door to Luke's room shut again the pair were wrestling on the floor of the hallway, both in hysterics.

Sam watched them, a little confused. He blinked once, then twice, and then left to go downstairs again, leaving the two brothers to their antics.

Once he was back in the kitchen, he was met by Anna's faintly surprised gaze. "How'd it go?" She called to him over the sound of laughter floating in from upstairs.

"Pretty good, I think!" Sam called back with a grin. 

 

*

 

With Luke back, the uncomfortableness everyone had been feeling was seemingly beginning to disappear. Meals were a lot less awkward, now- with the exception of Michael and Luke, who refused to sit anywhere near each other, and only engaged in conversation if it was necessary, for example;

"Would you please pass the salt, Lucifer?"

"Yes of course, Michael."

But whatever, things were looking up.

Two days after Luke had finally emerged from his room, things were returning to the way they had been before, and Dean loved it. He loved feeling like part of something, part of a family, and being with Sammy. He loved the funny stories Gabe told, and the way Anna vehemently denied everything in them, and the way Cas' lips would tilt up only slightly while everyone else was in full blown hysterics- everyone except Michael, of course, who just sat stony-faced on the end of the table, not that anyone else cared.

Dean grinned at Cas from across the table at dinner one night, and Cas smiled shyly back. It was kind of adorable.

Dean caught Sam watching him from his left with a knowing toothy grin and just kicked him gently under the table. Sam laughed. Dean grinned, taking a long drink from his beer- he preferred it, even though everyone else was drinking some fine French wine of Luke's. Beer made him feel more comfortable. He was happy.

It was getting dark outside at around nine PM now, not that anyone was going to complain. The more time spent basking in the hot Atlantic sun, the better.

Everyone was lying out on the grass now as the sun began to set; Anna and Michael occupying the two deck chairs and everyone else lying splayed out in the grass. Well, by everyone, he meant Luke and Sam, who were so spread out that they probably looked like giant starfish to any planes passing overhead. Cas was sitting more conservatively, with his legs crossed, and Dean was sat next to him. He had one of his knees pulled against his chest so he could rest his arm on it. Gabriel was lying on his front, naturally, and so he just looked like a teenage girl at a sleepover, rather than a twenty-six-year-old man. Dean had recently discovered that Gabriel was only a few weeks older than he was.

Luke had propped himself up on his elbows in order to drink his wine, which he'd given up on putting in glasses. He was currently just taking deep swigs out of the bottle. Dean couldn't help but be slightly amused.

"For the love of god, Luke," Anna said helplessly. "At least _try_ and be a little more civilised!"

"No," Luke grumbled, collapsing back into the grass. "F'coff"

Michael let out a long, deep sigh. "Some things never change," he muttered, mostly to himself, for which Anna gave him a chastising glare.

"Mike," she said warningly, but Michael continued.

"I mean, I thought the pills were supposed to _help_ with his erratic behaviour-"

"Michael!" Accused Gabe, Anna, and even Cas all at the same time. Luke remained silent, staring blankly up at the sky. Dean and Sam exchanged curious glances.

"Well it's true," Michael said snidely, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "That's what the doctor-"

"That's enough," Anna said, and there was a tone of real hostility in her voice this time.

"No, Anna," Luke said, his words slightly slurred from having drunk an entire bottle of wine by himself in the space of about ten minutes. "Let 'im finish."

"No, it's quite alright," Michael chuckled. "I'm done." He began to walk away.

Luke sat up again, hesitated for just a moment, before yelling, "Hey Mikey, I was thinking about inviting Meg and Lilith to the party tomorrow-"

Michael was back in a flash, face dangerously close to Luke's. There was anger sparking in his gaze. "If you do that, 'Lukie', I swear to god I will rip every single one of your pretty little hairs out, are we clear?"

"Mike!" Cas said, sounding a little horrified.

"You really think I'm pretty?"

"What party?" Asked Dean, at the Sam time as Sammy questioned, "Who's Meg and Lilith?"

"I'll explain later," mumbled Cas in Dean's ear, and Dean could feel his warm breath on his cheek. It made his neck flush a little bit, although thankfully the sun was almost gone over the horizon now so maybe Cas couldn't see it.

Michael and Luke stared each other down for just a moment longer, before Michael let out a growl of frustration and stalked off back towards the house.

Luke let out a little giggle. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"What?" He asked innocently. "Everything's a little funnier when you're drunk."

 

*

 

An hour later and just about everyone had jumped on Luke's bandwagon. Gabriel had gone inside and returned with as much liquor as he could carry; there was whiskey, vodka, southern comfort, beer, wine, everything. And then, there wasn't much for everyone else to do apart from get seriously drunk.

With Michael gone, the atmosphere had grown much more comfortable. Now there were six of them sprawled out across the field, a small light shining on them from inside the kitchen but apart from that they were surrounded by darkness. It was probably the most relaxed Sam had ever felt.

Luke was now on his third or fourth glass of whiskey, and Sam was on his fifth vodka. Gabriel didn't even look conscious anymore, and Sam had a feeling that Dean was going to regret drinking so much beer in the morning.

The only person who was seemingly sober was Cas, who had stopped drinking after two glasses of wine; even Anna was beginning to sway a little in her seat.

As it turned out, the party that Luke and Michael had talked about was Luke's annual Fourth of July do, a huge party even by millionaire standards. Tomorrow evening the entire place was going to be chock full of attractive strangers. Sam was looking forward to it.

In addition to this, Meg and Lilith were Michael's two ex-wives, who Luke had apparently slept with on different occasions. He could really be a dickhead when it suited him, Sam thought, it was a wonder that Michael kept showing up to these family get-togethers, they clearly hated each other.

"So, boys and girl," Gabriel slurred loudly, and everyone looked up at him. "I think we should play a game."

"Okay," Dean yawned, "What game?"

Gabriel threw an empty bottle of whiskey, courtesy of Luke, down onto the grass. "Spin the bottle," he said cheerily.

"No," Anna immediately replied.

"Aw c'mon Anna banana, why nooot?" Luke moaned, looking up at her with puppydog eyes. "It'll be fuuuun…"

"Because there's only one girl and most of you are related to her," Anna explained slowly. "Not fun, Luke, incest."

"Ohyeahtrue," Luke sighed, lying back in the grass again.

"We could play truth or dare," Dean suggested with a little hiccup, and Sam laughed at him. 

"Ooh oh yes good idea," Gabriel giggled. "Dean, Dean you go first, Dean."

Sam felt happy. The vodka had left him feeling warm and fuzzy inside, and here he was, in the Caribbean, surrounded by people he liked. Coming out here was the greatest idea ever.

"Okay," said Dean happily. "Cas, truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Okaaayyy… I dare you toooo…" Gabriel leaned forwards and whispered in Dean's ear. Dean giggled. "Yeah, good one Gabe, Cas I dare you to move Michael's mattress out into the garden while he's sleeping. 

Cas raised both his eyebrows. Sam half expected him to refuse it, but he simply nodded. "Alright. My turn, then?"

Dean nodded, grinning.

"Sam, truth or dare?"

Sam was too afraid of Michael to choose dare. "Truth."

"What do you want to do when you leave university?"

There was a resounding groan from everyone else, and Gabe said, "Oh c'mon Cassie, that was _dull_."

Sam laughed. "I want to be a lawyer, and move to New York and live in a fantastic apartment there and have a dog," Sam said with a little smile.

"I own New York," Luke mumbled, yawning.

"Alright then, Luke, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Why is your bedroom door pink?"

"Because, Sammy, I am a raging homosexual and I feel like it should be displayed on my door."

There was a silence.

And then everyone burst out laughing.

"What, really?" Dean asked curiously. "You're gay?"

"Yes," Luke answered, trying to sound serious except the slur in his voice gave it away. "I am very much gay."

Sam giggled. "I guessed as much."

Luke tried to glare at him but couldn't stop grinning.

"But didn't you fuck Michael's ex-wives?"

Gabriel chucked his arm haphazardly around Dean's shoulders. "You see, Dean, Luke is a very proud person, and he will do basically anything to ruin Mikey's life. Not that we care particularly that much, Mike's made our lives miserable on more than one occasion."

Sam looked at Luke curiously. "So then why do you keep inviting him back here? If you guys hate each other, why not just cut ties instead of just making each other miserable?"

Luke laughed softly, leaning back into the grass and staring up at the sky. "Because it's a chess match, Sammy. You might not win every piece on the board but there's still a chance you'll win the game. You can't just quit every time you lose a pawn."

A relaxing silence fell. And then, as usual, Dean had to ruin it.

"But Luke, does you being gay mean there won't be any attractive girls at the party? Because I gotta say, man, that blows."

"No, girls are still coming. Gabriel might actually behead me in my sleep if I prevented that from happening."

"I don't exactly what a house full of gay men either," Anna put in from her deck chair, giggling.

"I take it you're straight as a bean pole then, Winchester?" Gabe smirked.

Dean and Sam looked at each other, then Sam spoke up, "Um, which Winchester?"

"Dean."

"Oh, no, he swings both ways."

"Thanks for answering for me, Sammy."

"Not a problem."

Gabe was laughing. "And Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Lads or Lassies?"

"What? Oh, I'm not gay. Girls, I like girls."

"Girls," Gabriel said dreamily, outlining an hourglass shape with his hands. "Ugh. Luke, man, you don't know what you're missing."

"I thought we'd been through this, I _have_ slept with girls," Luke interjected, flicking up an eyebrow. "I mean my memory's not that great, but I'm pretty sure Lilith and Meg were both girls-"

"Yeah, but you don't appreciate it," Sam pointed out, grinning at him.

"I can appreciate the aesthetic," Luke argued. "They're pretty, I just can't see myself falling for one."

"Why not?" The question came from Castiel this time.

"Because, Cas, the sex is different. _Way_ different. With girls you have to focus on them, make sure you're not hurting them, or pushing too hard, or in the wrong place. With men it doesn't matter, because they're just as strong as you are, sometimes stronger. They know what they like. _You_ know what they like, because they're just like you. Same sex drive, or whatever. They'll push you right back, and when you get caught up in the moment you can lose yourself in it, because you know that they're doing the same. You don't have to make a show, because with a man it's all about the release. For both of you. You hit the wall and you break into pieces, you shatter into nothingness, and you lose yourself absolutely and completely. And that sensation, the feeling of just… It's the only time you're not thinking about reaching happiness, but it's the only time you are. It's bliss."

Sam cleared his throat loudly and reached for his glass. He'd be lying to himself if he said it didn't sound… Tempting.

There was a long silence.

"Well," Gabriel said after a few uncomfortable seconds. "That explanation was as good as any."

Luke smirked, flopping back in the grass. "Well, you asked."

"No, Cassie asked."

"I'm starting to be sorry I did."

They all burst out laughing. Sam felt a hand brush his as he reached for the whiskey. "Sorry," he mumbled, pulling back. The talking around him carried on, but it seemed muffled as he glanced up and his eyes met Luke's. They stayed like that for a few seconds, just looking at each other, before Sam swallowed and quickly looked away.

There was no reason for him to be as flustered as he felt.

 


	5. Mr. Gatsby

July fourth.

Party day.

Sam rolled over in bed with a groan, rubbing his eyes as the sun shone brightly through his curtains and promptly blinded him. He had a heroic headache, courtesy of the amount he drank last night, probably, and to be honest he wasn't exactly feeling up to a massive party later on in the evening.

After a few minutes of lying there doing literally nothing, he decided a shower was probably appropriate. He yawned as he stood up, snatching some clean clothes out of the wardrobe he was occupying for the few weeks they were staying and a towel and left his room.

Sam paused for a moment outside his door, staring at the obnoxiously bright pink one opposite. He didn't realise he was chewing on his lip until he accidentally bit a little too hard, causing him to wince in pain and quickly move away from the door, shutting himself in the bathroom. Today was going to be a very long day.

He definitely wasn't expecting what he saw when he got downstairs half an hour later.

He'd been expecting everyone to be downstairs already, as it was just after midday, eating brunch or whatever. That was obviously not the case.

All of the furniture that had been in the joint kitchen and sitting room was gone. It made a huge difference to the amount of space there was in the room, too; it looked at least three times the size now. 

There were fairy lights hanging off of every available surface, and the huge bookshelf along one was was lit up like a Christmas tree. Sam had to admit, it looked pretty awesome.

Sam felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. "What do you think, Sam?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. He pushed Luke's arm off him. "Dude, how are you, like… Alive, right now?"

Luke shrugged. "I never really get hangovers."

"You're fucking kidding me."

"Do I look like I'm kidding you?"

Sam shrugged slightly. "Not really, you're glowing."

Luke's eyebrows flicked upwards, and he shot Sam a smug grin.

Sam suddenly realised what he'd said. "No, I mean-"

"What do you think of the decorations?"

Sam was really, really grateful to change the subject. "It's awesome," he told Luke with a grin. "Will there be fireworks? I love fireworks."

"It's a secret."

"Luke, come on, at least tell me if there's fireworks."

"No."

"Because, you know, if there were it'd be totally awesome. Fireworks are the _best_ -"

"I'm not telling. Hey Sam, what's your favourite colour?"

"Green. How many people are supposed to be coming again?"

Luke grinned back, moving away from Sam and going over to straighten one of the potted plants beside the books. "Three, four hundred at the least."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Umm, I don't think there's gonna be enough space in here."

Luke winked at him. "This is just the reception room; wait until you see the pool."

Sam smiled, glancing around the room again. "Great, lead the way."

"Ohhh no," Luke said teasingly. "No, I want it to be a surprise. You're gonna have to wait until tonight."

Sam gave Luke a mock pout, but the blond man just laughed. "Trust me, it'll be worth it."

 

*

 

Dean didn't think he was ever going to be able to drink again, let alone go to this party thing this evening. When he finally woke up his mouth was as dry as Death Valley, and his head was pounding so hard it felt like there was a tiny drummer in his brain screaming 'Fuck you, alcohol' over and over and over again.

There was only one option: he needed food. A nice, greasy bacon sandwich. Perfect.

When he got downstairs the only other people there were Sam and Luke; Sam sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor eating a yogurt, and Luke was standing on a chair trying to tape fairy lights to the ceiling- and woah, he hadn't noticed that, where the fuck was all the furniture and _what_ was with those _lights_?!

"Oh, morning Dean," Sam called, waving at his brother with his spoon. "How's your head?"

"What the fuck is going on," Dean said, blinking as he took in the scene before him. "Where is everyone else- where's the _furniture_?"

"We were robbed," Sam said mock-seriously.

"Gabe's still in bed," Luke announced from where he was struggling with the lights, "And so's Anna, probably; Cas is outside, and hopefully Michael was abducted late last night."

"You wouldn't be wrong." Cas suddenly appeared from outside, placing his hands in his pockets. He offered Dean a shy smile, and Dean returned it, heart giving a little skip. "Where've you been, man?"

"Like Luke said," Cas said with a smirk, nodding at his brother. "Outside."

Dean frowned slightly in confusion, and then:

" _LUCIFER_!"

"It's funny how he always thinks it's my fault," Luke said idly, as Sam burst out laughing and Cas just looked pleased with himself.

Dean glanced from one to the other, confused. "What?! What's going on?!"

Michael came thundering in from outside. "Why did I wake up in the garden, Luke?!"

Luke held up his hands in surrender, unable to keep the smile off his face. "It wasn't me, Mike, I swear! It was Cas!"

"Yeah right," Michael spat, glaring at him. 

"It's true! Honest! Tell him, Cassie!"

"Luke, why would I do anything of the sort?"

" _Cas_! He's _actually_ going to murder me this time!"

"You bet your fucking ass I will," Michael muttered under his breath as he stalked up the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Castiel turned to full-on grin at Dean. It was kind of amazing. "Well?"

Dean blinked in confusion. "Well what?"

"Last night! You dared me to move Michael's mattress into the garden, remember?"

"Holy shit, I'd forgotten about that- you actually _did_ it?"

Luke raised his eyebrows. "What, did you somehow miss the exchange that just took place?"

Sam laughed, and Dean shot him a glare. "Don't encourage him, Sammy, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

"Gets the most laughs though," Luke said innocently, causing Sam to laugh again, and even Cas cracked a smile.

Dean rolled his eyes, trying to suppress a laugh. "You're a massive shit of a millionaire, you know that?"

Luke grinned charmingly at him. "Oh, yes. It's one of my best traits."

"Being a shit?"

"Being a millionaire."

 

*

 

Sam and Dean were sitting outside in the sun. Both of them had been forbidden by Luke to go _anywhere_ near the pool, so they had instead settled to just sit in the sun and chat for a few hours.

Sam glanced over at his brother, folding his book in his lap. "You've got sunburn," he told Dean after a while. "On your neck."

"No I don't."

"Yeah, Dean, you do."

"Nope."

"… You really do."

"No, Sammy, I don't. If I pretend it isn't there then it goes away."

"Dean for god's sake, that's not how it-"

Sam was interrupted by the sound of Anna's screams from inside the house. The brothers exchange a look before jumping to their feet and racing through the back door, where they were greeted by a scene they hadn't exactly expected.

"GABRIEL! Put that fucking thing away!"

"Never!"

"Oh for the love of all that is good and pure," sighed an exasperated Dean, putting his head in his hands. Sam just stared in surprise at the scene unfolding before them.

Gabriel was chasing Anna around the newly-decorated living room with what appeared to be a ginormous purple dildo, about the size of Sam's forearm. Anna was half laughing, half screaming, and every now and then Gabriel would catch up to her and start smacking her on the arm with it, only causing her to laugh louder.

"Where did you even _find_ that thing?!" Asked Sam, raising an eyebrow at the shorter man, who was dressed in a particularly small neon green tank top with matching shorts and high-top converses.

"Luke's room," Gabe called breathlessly, trying to corner Anna into the kitchen.

"No you didn't, none of mine are purple," came Luke's voice from up the stairs. "Must be one of yours, Sam."

Gabe 'ooohhh'ed just long enough for Anna to distract him and snatch the hideous thing away. She grinned over at Sam, who'd just yelled, "You wish, Satan," back up at Luke.

"Ignore him," she advised. "He's worse if you enourage him."

"I'm not encouraging!"

"You're reacting; that's encouraging."

 

*

 

It was 8:30 PM when people began to show up to Luke's party; the occasional stragglers arriving in groups of two or three. It wasn't until just after sunset at around nine o'clock when people started to arrive by the dozen.

They were all beautiful, Sam noticed; all well-dressed, perfect hair, makeup, the works. If it hadn't been so intimidating, it would've been kind of cool.

Luke stood at the door to greet everyone, and Sam also noticed that his demeanour and personality had changed completely. He was no longer the lazy, arrogant man who'd greeted Sam and Dean when they arrived; he was Luke Milton, the millionaire New Yorker, who owned an island in the Caribbean and liked to throw insane parties on a whim. 

He wore a black suit and a thin, dark grey tie, with a crisp white shirt on to match. He looked smart, Sam thought, sharp. He looked the part. He'd combed his hair and everything.

Sam still hadn't been allowed to go and see the pool. Dean had gone down with Cas about an hour earlier, and just sent Sam a text that said 'you'll <3 it'. It wasn't until about 9:30, when most of the guests had arrived, that Luke abandoned his post at the door and approached Sam, who was sitting in one of the garden deck chairs, waiting.

"Are you ready?" Luke asked with a grin, holding out his arm.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I'm not holding your arm, Luke."

Luke gave Sam a little pout, but withdrew his arm anyway. "Whatever, spoilsport. Come on, you'll love it."

The pair walked together towards the pool in silence. It took about five minutes to get there, and Sam could hear the sound of loud music and people talking, laughing, and the sound of splashing which he guessed was from the pool itself.

"Here we are," said a soft voice in his ear, but when Sam turned to face Luke, he was gone. Shaking off the weirdness Sam turned around again, took a few more steps around the corner and-

Oh my god.

It was the most incredible sight that Sam had ever seen. There were even _more_ fairy lights down here, draped over the perfectly sculpted bushes. The huge 50-meter swimming pool which was illuminated with coloured lights, changing from green, to blue, to pink, to red. There were huge, intricately decorated ice sculptures, lit up by coloured platforms on which they stood. Waiters in white shirts and bow ties were walking around with vodka shots and whiskey on trays, and there were lanterns hanging out of the trees. There were balloons absolutely everywhere, and feather boas, strobe lights, beach balls, smoke machines and bubbles and oh my god the _people!_ Sam had thought they looked so sophisticated when they arrived, but my god they didn't anymore; there were people dancing, people floating around in rubber rings in the pool, singing along to the music blaring out of the huge SONOS speakers Luke had somehow managed to get his hands on.

It was madness.

It was _beautiful_.

Sam was suddenly attacked by a short man with long hair wearing an electric blue suit. "Sammaaay!" Gabriel shouted, throwing an arm around his neck. 

Sam grinned, "Hey Gabe."

"Honey 'm so glad you could make't!" He slurred, spilling his drink all over the ground as he swayed on the spot. "Where's Lukie, isn't he with'ou?"

"He vanished off somewhere," Sam shrugged with a laugh, holding Gabriel upright as he began to stagger slightly to the left. 

"Ohhh, yeah, of course, he does that every time," Gabriel giggled, hiccuping. "Only I thought he'd stay this time, ya'know, 'cos of you an' all. He really want'd to impress you, it'sweet..."

"What?" Sam said, blinking in confusion, but Gabe was already being steered away by an attractive woman in a red dress that Sam had never seen before. 

"Bye then," Sam called after him, unable to repress a smile. He began to push through the thronging crowd, overwhelmed by all the noises and smells and bright lights and colours, in an attempt to find Luke.

This really was absolute chaos.

Sam _loved_ it. 

 

*

 

Dean was sitting on a bench amidst a crowd of what he assumed were very gay men, who were all wearing pink mankinis and bowler hats. He in fits of laughter as he watched Cas' expression of intense concentration as he tried to blow bubbles.

"You don't need to try so hard," Dean managed through his laughter, wiping a tear out of his eyes. "You just need to blow out gently- _gently,_ Cas!"

"I give up," mumbled Cas, sulkily handing the bubble wand and mixture to Dean. "Here."

Dean gave him an encouraging smile. "Hey, no, I'll keep teaching you," he half teased, knocking Castiel's shoulder with his own. "You just need to get the hang of it…"

Dean dipped the wand into the soapy mixture. "Here now, Cas, what you have to do is-" He looked up at the other man as he spoke, and their eyes met for just a second before Cas leaned forwards and pushed his lips against Dean's.

Dean was frozen in shock- he was kissing him, _actually_ _kissing_ him, and it was a few seconds before Dean could even remember that he was supposed to reciprocate. Before he had a chance, though, Cas pulled back, cheeks scarlet.

"S-sorry," he mumbled, avoiding looking directly at Dean. "I don't know why I-"

"Shut up," Dean told him, grabbing the smaller man by the shoulders and pressing his lips deeply against Castiel's. The feel of his cheek against Cas' light stubble, of his mouth pressing perfectly against Dean's in a way that was just so perfect and just so _Cas_ made Dean's head feel light and dizzy.

They stayed there for a few seconds, swaying slightly on the bench, ignoring the half-naked men around them applauding.

When they finally broke apart, there was a very short, comfortable silence.

"I think Michael's going to explode, Dean," Cas whispered with a little giggle.

"Huh?"

Cas pointed to the other side of the pool, where they could see Michael sitting on a bench not dissimilar to theirs, angstily eating a hot dog amidst a crowd of drunken men and women in their early twenties.

Dean burst out laughing. He really did look hilarious.

 

*

 

After a good hour of searching, and bumping into random strangers, and a few short polite conversations with skimpily dressed women and men with dodgy moustaches, Sam found Luke.

He was standing on the balcony overlooking the pool, alone, leaning on the railing. Sam couldn't make out his face, which was cast in shadow, but he'd recognise that posture anywhere.

Trying to pretend to himself that wasn't really weird Sam climbed the stairs to the raised balcony and approached Luke from behind. "It's a great party, Mr. Gatsby," he teased, leaning on the railing to Luke's left and glancing sideways at his face.

Luke was grinning. "Does that make you my Daisy, Sam?"

Sam's cheeks flushed. "I was thinking more along the lines of Nick Carraway, actually."

Luke chuckled, and Sam noticed a cigarette in his hands. "Do you smoke?" He asked curiously.

"Hm? Oh," Luke glanced down at the cigarette as if he'd only just noticed it. "No, not usually. It makes me look good, though."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Luke grinned. "It's classy." He took a drag from the cigarette, and then blew out the smoke in perfect rings… Directly into Sam's face.

"Cool," Sam managed to cough out, turning his face away and gulping down the fresh air. He could hear Luke laughing behind him. "Why're you all alone up here anyways? Isn't it more fun to be down there?"

"Not really," Luke sighed, running one hand through his hair and mussing it up a little. "Down there gets all sticky with bodies and people and heat. Up here you can enjoy the view and stay wonderfully cool."

Sam rolled his eyes with a smile. "Such a philanthropist," he teased. 

"Shut up," chuckled Luke. 

They remained in a comfortable silence for what seemed like an age, standing together in easy comradeship, watching the crazy and magnificent party scene unfold from above.

Luke checked his watch. It was a Rolex, Sam noticed, and then wondered why that even surprised him; the dude was crazy rich. "Fireworks," Luke murmured.

"Sorry?"

Luke simply nodded up at the sky. "Happy Fourth of July, Sam."

As if on cue, a blue stream of light shot into the cloudless starry night and exploded, showering the crowd in blue sparks. Another one followed, red this time, and then another, white, and suddenly the sky was alight with the most incredible fireworks display Sam had ever seen. The crowd of people below were all cheering, and Sam couldn't help but grin up at the stars.

"I love fireworks!" He shouted over the loud booms to Luke, who simply smiled.

"I know you do."

Sam's mind flashed back to that morning, when he'd pestered Luke about the fireworks. His jaw dropped a little. "Did you do this… For me?"

Luke's lips twitched into a little smile. "Just watch the damn display, Sam, it's almost over." 

Luke was right; as soon as he'd finished talking the final firework was shot into the sky. It was the largest firework yet, and it exploded directly over their heads in a burst of bright green light.

Again, Sam thought back to that same morning:

_"Hey Sam, what's your favourite colour?"_

_"Green."_

He turned to face Luke, looking stunned. "You're a dickhead, you know that?"

Luke smiled. "Yep."

"A pretentious, rich asshole."

"I know."

"I'm going to kiss you."

"Good idea."

Sam surged forwards, pulling Luke towards him by his stupid tie and smashing their mouths together so hard he forgot how to breathe. Luke tasted like smoke and fine whiskey, and that combined with the scent of his Hugo Boss cologne was enough to completely smother all of Sam's other senses in a way that was so fitting to his personality that it was actually funny. Suddenly there was just him, only him, Luke and his amazing smell and asshole attitude and swaggering presence that swallowed up everything else in Sam's brain. 

And, _god_ , could he kiss. Luke kissed him like he was drowning, starving, like Sam's mouth was the only thing keeping him alive. It was rough but somehow slow, deep, invasive and Sam didn't ever want to stop kissing him, ever, not even to breathe.He could handle suffocation as long as it was like this. Luke's tongue pressed into Sam's mouth and he let out a soft whine, leaning into Luke and knotting his hands into his stupid blond hair as their tongues slid together like a dance, a slow dance, or slow sex; so long and deep and drawn out that it almost hurt, but in a way that was so damn good. One of Luke's hands slid around to Sam's back, pulling him closer, and the other one cupped his neck.

It was nothing like kissing girls. This wasn't a fiery passion, this was a different kind, this was lust in it's most basic form, a pooling heat in Sam's stomach. Sam could feel the stubble on Luke's cheeks, the shortness of his hair, the sturdiness of his shoulders. It wasn't until Sam pressed himself even closer, so close that he could feel Luke's erection pressed up against his own that reality slid in and Sam pushed him roughly away.

Luke stumbled back in shock, eyes widening. He stood a few feet away now, chest rising and falling heavily, eyes blown out with lust and his messy hair sticking up all over the place from when Sam had his hands in it. He looked gorgeous.

Sam was breathing just as heavily as he was, and he could feel his suit trousers tightening over a seriously tell-tale area. "I'm not gay," he breathed out, staring at Luke.

"...I never said you were," Luke replied after a moment, and although he was trying to sound suave Sam could tell that he was just as gone on this as he was.

Sam cleared his throat. "Good," he said hoarsely. "Because… I'm not."

"Okay," Luke nodded, loosening his tie slightly and looking away. "Okay."

"Okay."

There was a seriously awkward few seconds. "I guess I'd better go and find Dean," Sam mumbled after a moment.

Luke just waved a hand, dismissing him, and turned away, putting one hand in his hair and ruffling it about slightly and resting the other on his hip. Sam thought he looked a little upset about something, but now wasn't really the time to be worrying about that.

As Sam quickly descended the stairs, he heard Luke let out a deep, heavy sigh.

Once he'd reached the bottom he collapsed against the wall, rubbing his face with his hands. 

All he could do was hope that Luke was way drunker than he was and that he'd have forgotten the whole thing in the morning.

Only Luke didn't really seem that drunk.

Oh, hell.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie, I thought I was really clever with the name of this chapter although it's probably not as good as I made it sound in my head. so yeah, the party scene is based mostly off jay gatsby's parties, I just thought they'd fit the scene quite well. thanks for reading!  
> -cat


	6. Forgive Me Father

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter focuses pretty much entirely on sam and luke, sorry about that :P more dean and cas next chapter, I promise!  
> -cat

Sam made a point of not seeing Luke again that night. Every once in a while the person he'd be talking to would move away and their eyes would meet by chance from a few meters away. Sam would always look away almost immediately, and if he ever glanced back, Luke was always gone.

It was four AM before the drunken party guests began to filter out, one by one, and almost six in the morning by the time they'd all left completely. The garden was a complete tip, and Luke was nowhere to be seen.

And so, by the time Sam stumbled into bed at seven AM, the sun was already rising. To make matters worse all he could see every time he closed his eyes was Luke's face, Luke's eyes, Luke's hair. He could still smell him, still taste him, and it was going to drive him crazy.

So yeah, no sleep for Sam.

No matter how hard he tried, Sam knew he wouldn't be able to forget how amazing it felt to kiss him. How perfectly they fit together, like in all of those sappy love stories that Dean secretly liked reading when he thought Sam wasn't paying attention. He knew that maybe he'd have to come to terms with the idea that yeah, he _did_ have a thing for the arrogant super-lawyer, and even more unusually, that the super-lawyer might have a thing for him too.

And it made him uncomfortable as hell.

But whatever, right? Sam wasn't going to linger on it. If he just kept quiet and pretended like it didn't happen then maybe Luke would do the same, and things wouldn't have to be uncomfortable between them. They could just go back to being awkward sort-of friends and everything would be fine.

Sam sighed, trying to push thoughts of Luke out of his head as he stumbled out of bed and pulled some decent clothes on. It was only 11 in the morning, and they hadn't exactly gone to bed early, so everyone else was bound to be asleep. It was the perfect time for Sam to go downstairs, make himself some cereal or something and get some work done without any distractions. 

But oh, if only it were that easy.

When Sam reached the bottom of the stairs and made his way into the kitchen, the first thing he noticed was that the kitchen table was back. The second thing he noticed was that Luke was slumped against it, fast asleep, with his hair askew, tie undone and shirt ripped open under his suit jacket. Some of the buttons were hanging on by a thread.

Memories of last night immediately flooded back to him; memories of being pressed up tightly against Luke's chest, kissing him, with his hands in his hair-

No, stop it. Focus.

Sam eyed the sleeping man for a moment, debating internally, before letting out a deep sigh and electing to ignore him. He couldn't lift Luke if he tried, the man was quiet strongly built, and even if he could lift him there was no way Sam could get him upstairs without waking him up. Besides, he didn't look too uncomfortable, so what was the harm. Sam would just quietly get his breakfast and then move outside, where he could work in peace.

Sam managed to get his cereal into a bowl and fill it with milk without making any particularly loud noises. With that sense of achievement, he slipped outside to sit in the deck chair he had begun to frequent, rested the bowl on his lap, and began to eat.

Two hours later, Sam jolted awake.

He guessed he'd fallen asleep in his chair after breakfast, because the empty bowl and spoon were placed neatly on the grass beside him and his textbooks and papers were still organised neatly and unopened on his lap.

"Great," he sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing at his temple. "Juuust great…" Two hours he could've spent working, wasted. Gone. Just awesome.

Picking up his bowl Sam got to his feet and entered the kitchen through the back door. He was surprised to find that not only was Luke awake, but he was… Dusting? And Michael was sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee and a newspaper. It looked so… Domestic.

Michael looked up at Sam over his coffee as he entered. "Good morning, Sam," he said formally.

"Hey Michael," Sam sighed, moving over to the sink and dropping his bowl into it. He pointedly ignored Luke, who got the message because he didn't even acknowledge Sam's presence as he sat down at the table opposite Michael and spread out his work there, instead. He was less likely to fall asleep if there were people watching, he figured.

Michael gave him an approving look before turning to Luke, who was balancing on a chair and trying to reach the top shelf of books. "Can't you just hire a maid or something to do that, Lucifer?! For god's sake, you look ridiculous. And no millionaire in his right mind cleans his own house."

Luke shrugged, not that Sam saw it because Sam definitely wasn't watching him. "I'd rather do it myself."

"Yes, but _why_?"

"You know why."

"Humour me," Michael said, idly turning the page of the newspaper.

"Because I don't like the idea of other people going through all my damn stuff, okay? Now shut up, Michael, go back to educating yourself or whatever."

Michael chuckled. "It's not all of your stuff though, is it Lukie? It's just that one little pill bottle that if anyone found could ruin your entire _career_ -"

Luke jumped off the chair and slammed his hands down on the table, hard enough to make Sam jump. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" Luke hissed menacingly at his brother. "Shut the fuck up, Mike, or I will make you disappear, do you understand me?"

"Ah, see now Sam, _this_ is why he was on the psych meds, all that pent up fury-"

Luke picked up a clean plate from the kitchen table, inspected it, and then chucked it forcefully at Michael's head. 

The dark-haired man swung his head out of the way and the plate caught his shoulder instead, still causing Michael to let out an audible grunt of pain. The plate shattered into pieces once it hit the floor.

"Clean up your mess," Luke snarled, before storming out of the room.

Sam groaned, jumping to his feet. "Luke… Luke, wait." He jogged after him, reaching the top of the stairs as he heard the door to Luke's bedroom slam shut. "Luke- Oh for god's sake."

Dean's head emerged from his bedroom door. He looked sleepy- no, scratch that, he looked dead. "Sam? Wha's goin' on?"

"Nothing Dean, go back to bed." Sam knocked on Luke's door. "Jesus Christ, Luke, would you just open the-"

The door swung open, and Sam was suddenly standing very close to the man behind it. Very close. Uncomfortably close. "Oh. Umm-"

"Come in, then," Luke grunted, stepping out of the way so Sam could enter.

It occurred to Sam that he'd never actually seen the inside of Luke's room before, and when he stepped inside he was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't entirely pink, like he had feared; it was actually quite chic, quite modern. It was nice.

"Nice room," Sam commented as Luke shut the door behind him. He turned around, eyeing Luke as he put both hands in his pockets.

"I know."

"Right…" Sam rolled his eyes slightly at his arrogance, before changing the subject. "So, would you mind explaining what exactly that shit downstairs was about? What did Michael mean?"

Luke raised an eyebrow, and moved to open the door again. "Ask him yourself."

"No," Sam said quickly. "I'd rather hear it from you. I don't trust him."

"And you trust me?" Sam thought Luke sounded a little touched, but he was probably just hearing things. No way was Luke getting emotional over this, no way.

"I trust you a little more than I trust him," Sam tried slowly, although it came out sounding uncertain. 

Luke smirked. "Nice to know."

"But," Sam interjected. "Just… Just before we go any further, I just want you to know that last night-"

"It's forgotten," assured Luke, suddenly very interested in straightening out the comforter on his bed, which was huge, by the way.

"Really?" Sam felt a little relieved. "Because I-"

"Really," Luke said a little sharply, and it sounded final.

Sam nodded slightly, biting his lip. "Okay. Well… What happened downstairs?"

Luke sighed, collapsing into one of the huge and comfy-looking arm chairs facing his window. He motioned for Sam to occupy the other one. Sam obeyed.

"My god, I feel like I'm sitting in a confessional," Luke chuckled, glancing sideways at Sam.

Sam smiled down at the ground, and then said in a teasing voice, "Forgive me father for I have sinned-"

Luke laughed. "Well, guess I'd better get on with it then, hm? Just… Don't make a huge deal out of it, okay, it's really not all that exciting and you'll probably be disappointed with the ending. When myself and Michael were eight-"

"You guys are twins?"

"No, he's ten months older than me. Anyway, when we were eight our parents got divorced. Michael and Gabriel went to live with my father, but myself and Castiel remained with our mother. Anna was born almost two years later; she shares the same parents as all of us, though. I guess they tried to give it another shot, but it never worked. I digress- basically, we were split up. Some years later, though, our mother, Anna and myself were on our way to pick up Cassie from his swimming class when she was shot by a man in a moving vehicle and killed. Just a crazy, random accident. The guy was nuts, he shot our mother and three others on his way down the high street. He pleaded insanity in the court case, and, obviously, got away with it. He never even went to prison."

Sam's eyes had widened. He hadn't been expecting that.

Luke glanced up at him, and noticed his expression. He gave Sam a smile. "Oh, no, don't look like that, it doesn't upset any of us any more. I don't even think Anna remembers anything about it, she can't have been older than about six when it happened."

He brushed a hand through his hair. "I, on the other hand, was fifteen. The brain is a delicate thing at that age, and I guess something about watching it happen messed me up a little bit. Just the standard stuff, you know, nightmares and whatnot. Anyway, since we were then forced to live with our father he made me go see a therapist, and the bloody woman prescribed me with these anti-depressant tablet things. They really weren't necessary but she insisted I had to keep taking them for at least six months."

Sam kept quiet, just listening to Luke tell his story.

"Naturally, being then sixteen and stupid, after six months I just kept taking them, and taking them, and taking them, and by the time I was eighteen I was so hooked on those damned drugs it was actually becoming a more serious problem, but, obviously, I ignored it. All I wanted was to be a lawyer and put the guy who shot my mother behind bars."

"And did you?"

"Obviously not, the case was six years old by the time I was qualified and the guy was already in a psych ward in Vegas somewhere. That's where we're from, by the way. Nevada."

"We're from Kansas," Sam nodded.

"I know. But I did manage to become a lawyer at least, and a damn good one if I do say so myself-"

"Careful, Luke, your inner dickhead is showing," Sam teased gently, and Luke just grinned.

"So are you still addicted to these anti-depressants?"

"Nah, not anymore. I kicked that about three years ago."

"Three years ago?"

"Yep."

"You mean, you passed the bar while you were _high_?!" 

Luke winked at him. "They don't call me the best for nothing, Sammy."

"So… When Michael said you don't want people finding the pill bottle-"

"It's a figurative bottle. What he means is that I suppose if anyone found out about my little issue, my career would likely crumble before my eyes and I'd be left facing some seriously angry former clients whose law suits I lost, who probably would want to sue me for being irresponsible and neglectful with their cases. I could lose everything."

"Ah," Sam said, understanding. "I see."

"He just wanted to piss me off."

"Mm."

There was a silence. 

"So? Did my deep and emotional confession move anything within you, Sam?"

"Not really," Sam half-teased. "I lost my mother too. House fire when I was a baby. Drove my dad nuts. I didn't become a careless drug addict though, that's all you."

Had it been anyone else, Sam was sure they would have taken offence. Luke just laughed, however, sinking deeper into his chair. "I suppose it's a character flaw. I _do_ have a somewhat addictive personality."

Sam chuckled, watching his hands in his lap and twisting them absently. "I guess you'd better stop smoking, then."

"But I told you," Luke said with a smile. "It's classy."

"It also kills you."

"Carpe diem, Sammy."

"Just because you can quote Latin at me doesn't make your point any more valid."

"And why is that, my sun and stars?"

Sam blinked. "Okay, that's the second time you've called me that and I just have to ask: TV show or books?"

"For Game of Thrones? I've never watched the show, just read the books."

Sam whistled. "You're really missing out, man, the show is incredible."

"Really?"

"Oh, hell yeah, Daenerys is really hot-"

"I'm gay, Sam."

"Right, well Jon Snow is hot too."

"So I should watch the show?"

"Absolutely."

"I'll get right on that."

 


	7. Of House Elves and Insecurities

Dean was having the best twenty-four hours of his life.

It had all started off at the party last night, when Cas had kissed him. That had been awesome. And then they'd just spent the rest of the night feeling completely at ease with each other, no awkward silences, nothing. It had been perfect. Dean had taught Cas how to blow bubbles properly, and Cas rested his head on Dean's shoulder during the fireworks display and it had just been amazing.

And now here they were, sitting side-by-side on the couch- which had been returned once again to the living room/kitchen- surrounded by fairy lights and bits of feather boa, just chatting and laughing and ugh, it was amazing.

Cas was amazing.

Dean was absently brushing his fingers through Cas' hair when Gabriel came skipping jovially down the stairs. He eyed them curiously, before his face split into a huge grin. "Oh my god, are you guys like a _thing_ now? _Oh my god,_ I totally called it. Anna owes me and Sam five bucks each."

Dean flicked up an eyebrow. "You guys placed bets?"

"Well no, not per se, but we were all thinking it."

Cas rolled his eyes.

"We were!"

Dean narrowed his eyes slightly. "Gabe, how are you actually awake and functional right now? Last night you were _plastered_ , you should be half dead at the least-"

"Oh, I don't get hangovers."

"Are you fucking serious? Unbelievable."

"Neither does Luke, or Anna. Family gift I guess."

"What about you?" Dean glanced down at Cas, fingers still in his hair.

Cas shrugged. "I've never been drunk enough to find out."

Dean grinned at him, and Gabe 'awww'ed from the kitchen. 

"You're such an innocent naive little baby," Gabriel teased, grabbing the milk from out of the fridge. "Deano's got his work cut out for him-"

"Shut up," Cas grumbled, and Dean laughed.

"I don't mind," Dean murmured teasingly in Cas' ear. "It's sweet."

"Go away."

"Where's everyone else?" Gabriel asked curiously, sliding into one of the kitchen chairs with the milk and chugging it straight out of the carton. "Shouldn't they all be up by now?"

"Dude, that's fucking gross," Dean complained, watching Gabriel with one sceptical eyebrow raised. "And Sam and Luke are in Luke's room, but I don't know about anyone else- oh no, Mike was here when I came down this morning but he went for a walk shortly after."

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. "Sam and Luke, eh?"

Dean snorted. "Oh come on, really? Sam's not even into dudes."

"No, but Luke is," Gabe argued, "And he can be _very_ persuasive."

The thought made Dean feel a bit sick.

"It's not like he's a rapist or anything though," Gabe said brightly, grinning smugly at Dean from across the room.

"He's just trying to get to you," Cas sighed, tangling his fingers in Dean's. "Ignore him and he'll eventually go away."

"That's very rude, Cassie," Gabriel accused. "I am the older brother here and I have _rights_ -"

At that moment, a young man with brown hair wearing nothing but boxer shorts and clutching his shoes to his chest stumbled down the stairs. He stood awkwardly in their kitchen for a moment, before giving a little squeak and running out the front door.

There was a silence, and then Gabriel broke it. "Who the fuck was that?"

"Marcus," Anna supplied as she descended the stairs. "Don't worry boys, he was with me."

Gabe grinned up at her. "Oh you naughty, naughty girl! Wait until Michael hears about this-"

"Until I hear about what, Gabriel?" Michael was leaning against the doorframe, seemingly just having returned from his walk outside. "And who was that kid in his underwear who just ran into me?"

"One of Anna's most recent sexual exploitations," Gabe said with a grin, and Anna shot him an appalled look. 

" _Gabriel_ -"

"Anna!" Michael looked shocked.

"Michael," Castiel warned.

Dean groaned, "Jesus..."

 

*

 

"So Gabriel was in a band," Sam repeated slowly, and Luke nodded.

"And he was the drummer?"

"That's right. They were pretty good, too. They broke up a couple of weeks ago, though. The lead singer got done for drug dealing and chucked in prison. Gabe was really torn up about it, too, I was worried he wasn't gonna show up here actually."

"What were they called? The band, I mean."

"Archangel."

"That's a little ironic, isn't it?"

Luke glanced up at him from his chair, twisting his cell phone in between his fingers. "How so?"

Sam shrugged. "You know, 'cause his name's Gabriel… And Gabriel was one of the archangels…"

Luke blinked.

Sam sighed. "Okay, you clearly aren't as religious as your parents. Dude, you, Gabe and Michael are all named after archangels."

"News to me; angels are angels are angels. Don't care much about the rank."

"Your name is Lucifer, Luke, you're literally Satan! It's like the most hated word of the Christian faith, don't you think it's important to know about these things?"

"Are you being rude about my name, Sam?"

Sam smiled to himself. "Trying to convince you of something is like trying to convince Icarus that the sun burns cold, it's so damn impossible."

"Wow, Sam, that was really poetic. Are you sure you're not gay?"

"Shut up," Sam said loudly, laughing as he reached over and punched Luke's arm.

Luke grinned over at him. "Hey Sam, can I ask you something?"

"Mm, sure."

"Do you want to come out with me this afternoon?"

Sam gave him a wary look. "Where?"

"I was thinking about taking a boat around to the other side of the island and going fishing or something, and I'd appreciate the company if you'd like to come-"

"Like a _date_?"

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Well I meant as friends, but it could be a date if you'd like."

Sam felt something tighten in his chest. "Nope, no, friends is fine," he managed to squeak out, 

Luke smirked at him. "As you wish. For now, however, you need to leave." 

Sam frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Because, Sammy, I'm about to take a shower and unless you want to be the only member of the audience I suggest you vacate the immediate area."

"Ah." Sam flushed. "Right. I'll… I'll see you later then."

Luke gave him a mock salute and a grin as Sam clumsily made his way over to the door, almost tripping over a coffee table.

"Okay, _okay_ , I'll- okay, bye then, bye, uh, Luke." Sam quickly shut the door, cheeks burning.

Well, that couldn't have gone any worse. At least now he couldn't sink any lower than the benchmark he'd just laid down for himself in the seventh circle of hell.

Groaning inwardly, Sam made his way down the stairs and into the brightness of the kitchen, where he was pleasantly surprised to discover that everyone, sans Luke, obviously, was already there.

"Hey, Sam," Gabe yelled from across the room, where he was sitting on a disgruntled-looking Anna's lap. "How was morning sex with Satan?"

Sam hoped his cheeks weren't as red as they felt. "Gabriel I'm not _sleeping_ with him," Sam quickly denied, sitting himself down in one of the kitchen chairs. "We were just talking. _Someone_ ," he shot a small glare at Michael, who was sitting opposite him, "-pissed him off a little bit."

He caught sight of Dean and Cas snuggled up on the couch and raised his eyebrows. "Are you two-"

"Sammy, just shut up."

"Ooookay."

"They are though."

"Gabriel, for _god's_ sake-"

 

*

 

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was actually surprisingly nice, and not hell on earth like Sam had expected. After lunch, Sam, Dean, Anna and Michael all traipsed down to the pool to make a start on the clearing up of the garden from last night's party, to discover that there was nothing to clean up. In fact, there was nothing to suggest that there had even been a party down there at all.

Dean stood by the side of the pool, scratching his head. "Does Luke have, like, a little army of house elves or something we don't know about? Is he a wizard? Because like, dude, there is just  _no way_ that man cleaned up the mess of six hundred people, by himself, in the space of five hours. It's just not possible."

"Maybe he hired a team…"

"Sam, did you _see_ a team arriving?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Exactly; shut your cake hole."

"Maybe there was no party," Anna said in a mock-suspicious voice. "Maybe we were all drugged…"

Michael rolled his eyes and set off back to the house, and Sam and Anna exchanged grins.

Having nothing at all to help with, the remaining threesome made their way back up to the house, where they found Luke lounging in a deck chair out in the garden with a book resting on his face.

"Hey," Sam said loudly, grabbing the book off his face and hitting him on the shoulder with it. "How come the pool's all clean?"

Luke blinked a few times as though his eyes were adjusting to the sudden brightness they'd had thrust upon them. "Excuse me?"

"The pool, Lukie! Where the party was! There's nothing there, it's all totally cleared up. Like, spotless." Anna put her hands on her hips, frowning at him. "Please tell me you didn't do it all yourself."

"Of course I didn't do it by myself, I had help."

"From who?!"

"Ah, now, I can't tell you that because it's a secret."

"Oh Jesus Christ here we go-"

"No Anna, really, it's top secret. I was threatened by the president that if I told a soul-"

Anna glared at him. "Luke! Did you get _any_ sleep?!"

"Well, err, the answer to that question, if I were to answer, which I'm not necessarily doing, wouldn't be yes."

"So, no."

"Basically, yes."

"I can't believe you cleaned up all that shit by yourself," Dean said, looking a mixture of impressed and confused. "Like… Why?"

Luke shrugged, snatching his book back out of Sam's hand and putting it back over his face. "I didn't want to go to sleep, I had a lot to think about. Are we done? I'm tired."

"When are we going out?" Sam asked him, praying to god that nobody asked him what he meant.

"Uhh… I don't know, soon-ish? I'll come and find you."

"Yeah, sure."

As they walked away, Dean turned on Sam. "Are you two going on a date?" He demanded. "Because I don't think that's a very good idea Sammy, do you?!"

"It's not a date," Sam said, exasperated. "And for god's sake, Dean, calm down, you're the one banging my friend-"

"Lalalalalala," Anna sang loudly, putting her fingers in her ears. "That's my brother you're talking about, gentlemen, I don't wanna hear it."

Dean had gone scarlet.

"Sorry," Sam apologised briefly to Anna, before continuing. "And anyway, even if it was a date, why should you care?!"

"You just said it wasn't a date."

"Because it's not!"

"Sam's a big boy," Anna said, putting a hand on Dean's arm. "And so's Luke; don't you think what they do with their own time is their business?"

"Yeah, _thank_ you," Sam said loudly, gesturing pointedly to Anna.

"He's just quite a bit older than you Sam, you're only twenty two-"

"I'm not _that_ much older," came Luke's pouty voice from behind Sam. He felt an arm drape across his shoulders, and he could see Dean's face go scarlet. "I'm not even thirty-"

"Luke, you're not helping," Anna hissed, shoving him away.

Luke gave Dean a charming grin, before steering Sam off towards the dock and saying loudly, "What do you say, Sammy; how's about we go on our date a little early?"

"It's really not a date," Sam yelled over his shoulder, although he could tell that it was beginning to seem like a bit of a lost cause.

"How swiftly you dismiss our love-"

"Oh my god will you _stop_ with the book references already! You're twenty eight, Luke, you're too old to even be reading that kind of stuff."

"What?! That's stupid, _you've_ clearly read it."

"As Dean so kindly pointed out, I'm quite a bit younger than you."

Luke swung around in front of Sam, blocking him from moving forwards. "Does that bother you?"

Sam frowned slightly. "Why would it bother me?"

Some of the tension in Luke's shoulders seemed to relax slightly. "Nevermind," he said idly, and as they turned the corner a small, 20ft Boston Whaler came into view. Sam assumed that was Luke's aforementioned boat.

"Are you insecure about your age?" Sam asked teasingly. He noticed Luke's cheeks flush slightly.

"No."

"Oh my god, you _are_!"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are, I can tell!"

"Fuck off, Sam."

"Oh come on, you're not _that_ old. Like you said before, you're not even thirty yet."

"In two years I will be," Luke said sadly. "I don't want to be thirty." He climbed aboard the boat, holding a hand out to Sam, who ignored it, jumping on board himself. "Welcome aboard my baby, her name's Ruby and she's about as loyal as they come."

Sam winced. "Dear god, Luke, that phrasing wasn't exactly ideal."

Luke just stared blankly at him. Right, he clearly didn't get it.

"Nevermind."

"Alright… Anyway, I have the perfect place in mind to go fishing. Take a swim, too, if you fancy it." Luke flipped a switch and turned the key which sat waiting in the ignition, and Sam grinned as the engine roared to life.

"How fast does this thing go?!" He called out to Luke over the thunder of the engine as they pulled away from the dock.

Luke turned, grinning back at him. "How fast can you stomach?"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just if you were wondering, the book that Luke quotes when he says 'how swiftly you dismiss our love' is City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, and it's totally awesome and I 1000% recommend you read it  
> -cat


	8. Stand Still

Sam had experienced some pretty cool things on his stay with Cas and his family, but this, the feeling of salt water splashing his skin, his hair being blown around chaotically in the wind as Luke revved the engine up further and they flew across the water at over a hundred miles an hour, this was the best.

Sam was sitting on the side of the boat, facing Luke, trying to sneak subtle glances at his face when he thought Luke wasn't watching. His blond hair, too, was being pulled in all directions, and there were traces of a smile on his face as he leaned on the wheel with his elbows and stared out at the sea. He just looked so… At peace.

"How long does it take to get there?" Sam asked loudly.

Luke called back, "Twenty minutes, more or less, going at this speed."

Sam whistled. "So it's really quite a big island, huh?"

Luke turned to grin at him. "I wouldn't skimp out on buying an island, Sammy; when I bought it I made sure to hell that it was the best."

Sam chuckled, glancing left at the tropical island they were racing alongside. "I bet you did."

Another ten minutes and Luke slowed the boat down, making a turn into a small cove Sam hadn't even noticed. As Luke cut the engine completely and set about dropping the anchor, Sam had a chance to look around. 

They were surrounded by cliffs, about thirty feet high, with huge palm trees at the top that were so tightly packed together that it looked almost comical. There was a sandy strip at the bottom of the cliffs, like a tiny beach, and the water was so clear and such a perfect shade of bluey-green that although it was deep, Sam could just about see the sandy bottom.

"It's awesome," he said with a grin, turning to face Luke. "And the fishing's good here?"

Luke nodded, ducking down for a moment and picking two rods up out of a compartment in the floor. "As good as anywhere else; here." He held a rod out to Sam.

Sam bit his lip. "Erm, I guess I should tell you now that the only time I've ever gone fishing was with Cas when we first arrived here so I'm not very good-"

"Doesn't matter," Luke shrugged. "It's pretty self-explanatory." He shook the rod in his hand a little bit, and Sam took it. Luke grinned slyly at him. "So, Sammy, what do you say. Should we make this a little more interesting?"

Sam eyed him warily. "Like how?"

"Person to catch the most fish in an hour is the winner, and the loser has to be the winner's bitch for a day."

Sam frowned. "That doesn't really seem fair-"

"Scared of losing?"

Sam raised his eyebrows. "With _your_ track record? Um, yeah, a little."

Luke gave him a pout. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Sam looked incredulously at him. "Luke, no offence, but you do some pretty fucking weird stuff. I'm actually afraid of what you'd make me do if I lost."

Luke frowned. "How was that not offensive?"

Sam laughed. "What I meant was-"

Luke mock-sighed, balancing his fishing rod on the side of the boat and folding his arms across his chest. "Alright, alright, I'll alter the bet. Loser has to do any one thing that the winner wants."

Sam chewed his lip. "Just one thing?"

"Just one."

He hesitated only slightly before he nodded. "Okay. Deal."

Luke grinned excitedly, spinning around and pulling two empty buckets and a green tin box out of the same compartment he'd got the fishing rods from. "Okay, you put the fish in those buckets. In the green box is the bait," he grabbed another box, this one blue, "And here's all the hooks, lures, extra line, whatever. Are you ready?"

Sam blinked. "This doesn't seem very self-explanatory, Luke-"

"Go!"

It wouldn't even have taken an hour for Luke to beat him. No, not beat him, completely annihilate him. The pair hardly spoke for an hour, and when the time was up and they both placed their buckets side-by-side on the floor, Sam actually had to laugh. He'd caught three.

Luke had a whole extra bucket.

"I think the winner's pretty obvious," Luke said smugly, scratching the back of his head with a grin. "Sorry, Sam."

"You're not sorry, you're loving this," Sam teased.

"You're right, I am."

 Sam chuckled. "So what's the one thing I have to do?"

Luke grinned. "I want you to stand still."

Sam looked confused. "What?"

"Stand completely still."

"Yeah, I heard you; why?"

"Because that's what I want you to do. You're not allowed to question me, Sam, that's against the rules."

"There were no rules!"

"Yes there were, and you're breaking them by flapping your arms about, just stand still!"

Sam gave him a grumpy look, but didn't move.

Luke grinned. "There, see how easy that is?"

"I hate you. This is pointless."

"I could've made you do worse things, Sam, be grateful."

Sam couldn't argue with that.

"How long do I have to stand here for, Luke?" Sam sighed after a few moments.

Luke shrugged. "As long as I want you to, I suppose. We didn't put anything like time limits in the rules."

Sam glared at him. Luke gave him a charming smile in return.

Sam tried to pretend it didn't give him butterflies.

The next few minutes passed in silence, Luke tapping away on his phone and Sam just standing there like a lemon. Eventually, Luke looked up. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" He moved a little closer.

"Sure."

He moved closer still, saying nothing.

"Luke?"

"Mm."

"What are you doing?"

The shorter man was now standing mere inches away, looking curiously up at Sam. "I'm asking you a question."

Sam swallowed as Luke took another step closer; they were now practically touching, and Sam felt like his heart was about to thud out of his chest. But still, he didn't move. "What's the question then?" He asked a little hoarsely, and Luke just gave him that stupid smug smile.

He definitely wasn't attracted to Luke.

"I'm getting to that." Luke leaned forwards, and as Sam breathed he could smell the same scent he'd smelled at the party; the same cologne, combined with the smell of heat and whiskey. Luke's smell. It was quite distinctive.

Maybe he was a little bit attracted to Luke.

Luke's mouth was now beside Sam's ear, and he could feel the other man's hot breath on his cheek. His hands had slid around his waist, and Sam's entire body was frozen, he almost forgot how to breathe.

Okay, he was almost certainly really attracted to Luke.

"Question time," Luke murmured into his ear, and Sam's cheeks flushed. "So, Sammy, here's my question: why did you agree to come out here on a date with me?"

Sam swallowed again as Luke pulled back slightly, and his sharp blue eyes locked on to Sam's. "Because I like you," Sam breathed, still unmoving. "And it's not a date."

Luke grinned. "It's _kind_ of a date."

"I'm really not gay, I don't like you like that," Sam managed to stutter out, although he knew that the uneven thump of his heart was giving him away a little bit.

Luke chuckled. "We'll see." He leaned forwards, and their lips were about a centimetre apart before Luke's hands around his waist shoved him roughly backwards. With a little shriek, Sam stumbled off the boat and fell ungracefully into the water.

When he emerged, clothes soaked through and with a grumpy expression on his face, all he could hear was Luke's laughter. "You're a dick," he said accusingly, scrambling back up onto the boat. "All my stuff's wet now and everything! Oh shit, my phone was in my pocket-"

"No it wasn't," Luke choked out through his laughter, holding up Sam's phone. "I pick pocketed you before I pushed you in."

Sam glared, snatching his phone out of the hysterical man's hand. "Asshole."

Luke just laughed. "I'm sorry, it was just… Your _face_ …"

Sam's cheeks were scarlet. "Fuck off," he muttered.

"Anyway, that you're all wet, you might as well come swimming with me," Luke said cheerfully, stripping off his shirt and _woah_ , he was a lot more defined than Sam would've guessed. It wasn't until he turned around that Sam saw something that _really_ caught his attention.

"Luke," he gasped, "Why didn't you tell me you had a tattoo?"

"Hm? Oh, that." Luke twisted around on himself, trying to see it, as though he'd forgotten about the huge tattoo of what looked like a world map spanning his back. It was in immense detail; the names of all the countries were inked in, as well as mountain ranges, and the lines of the tropics. At the back of his neck in spirally, delicate letters was written, "The world is a big place; never forget where you came from." Under that was a set of two dates; March 1949 - January 2002; with a tiny pair of angel wings beside the last date. Luke shrugged, and as he did Sam could see the roll of his shoulder muscles, causing the tattoo across his back to ripple slightly. It was cool. "I didn't think you'd find it interesting."

Sam blinked at him. "Are you kidding me?" He moved closer, reaching out with his hand and tracing the outline of the United States lightly with his forefinger. He could swear he felt Luke shiver slightly under his hand. "It's awesome…"

"Thanks," Luke muttered, and Sam could tell he felt more that a little uncomfortable. He quickly pulled away, and Luke turned around to face him. "What were those dates written above the map?"

"My mother's lifespan," Luke said easily, and Sam almost winced at how casually he said it.

Luke seemed to notice the disdain in his expression and looked at Sam curiously. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just… You're so _blunt_ about it…"

Luke shrugged. "Well, yeah. It's a fact."

Sam didn't press the matter any further. He cleared his throat "So, are we going swimming or not?"

Luke's expression changed immediately to a grin, and he turned around again and immediately dove off the side of the boat. Sam watched as he resurfaced, flicking the water out of his hair, and then looked up at Sam. "Come on, then!"

Sam grinned back, peeling off his already soaked-through shirt and diving in after Luke.

It was late afternoon by the time Sam pulled himself back up onto the deck of the boat. Luke was already sitting there, brushing a hand through his saltwater-soaked hair, blue eyes squinting slightly in the sun.

Sam looked out at the thin strip of sandy beach, at the rocky cliffs and the palm trees above, bathed in sunlight. "Luke, what's it's name?"

"What's what now?"

"The name of the island, what is it?"

"Are you expecting something deep and emotional and beautiful in a foreign language?"

Sam shrugged, but his expression must've given it away.

"Well, you're out of luck I'm afraid, Sammy. I let Gabriel name it."

"Oh dear."

"It's called Barbara."

"Of course it is."

"Mm."

Sam chuckled. "You don't exactly advertise that."

"Does it surprise you?"

"Not really."

"Millionaire lawyer Luke Milton's island in the Caribbean is called _Barbara_ -"

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Sam smiled, running his hand backwards through his hair. Despite not really wanting to come in the first place, because of… Reasons, he'd actually had a lot of fun with Luke. He wasn't such a dick _all_ the time.

"Hey, do you think you could pass me my shirt?"

Luke's t-shirt was thrown over the back of the seat which Sam was leaning against.

"No," Sam said with a grin, picking up the shirt and hiding it behind his back.

Luke raised an eyebrow, holding out his hand. "Sammy," he said in a mock-warning tone, and Sam didn't fail to see the spark of amusement in his gaze.

Sam watched him innocently. "What?"

"Don't make me come and take it off you."

"What're you going to do from all the way down there, exactly?"

"That's it," Luke laughed, before tackling Sam and trying to snatch his shirt out of his hands.

Sam hadn't expected the man to be so damn _dense_. He wasn't particularly muscly, or particularly tall, but god was he strong. And also very, very heavy. He was laughing now, too, as he managed to wrestle out of Luke's grip and run to the other side of the boat, still gripping the t-shirt, where he was immediately tackled down to the floor.

Their laughter mixed with the squeaky sound of wet skin against the floor or the boat as they wrestled on the ground. Somehow Luke managed to pin Sam down, his hands pushing Sam's forearms into the ground above his head, sitting on his legs.

The feeling of Luke's bare skin pressed against his own sent small sparks of electricity down Sam's spine, and as his breathing evened out again, his eyes met Luke's. There was a small light in his sharp blue eyes as they locked on Sam's, and the look of childish smugness in Luke's face as he plucked his shirt out of Sam's grip had to make him laugh, even if it was a little breathless.

"Okay, tough guy, let me up," Sam groaned playfully, trying to push him off.

"Maybe I like it here," Luke said with a smirk, and Sam's cheeks went red.

Luke seemed to get the hint, and without any more snarky remarks he slid off of Sam and got to his feet. Sam was actually a little disappointed. 

"Thanks," he mumbled, snatching up his own shirt which thankfully had dried off in the sun and tugging it on, at the same time Luke donned his. "Should we head back? It's nearly six, and Gabriel will want to do dinner sooner rather than later."

Luke nodded, moving over to the wheel and flicking the fuel switch, turning the key in the ignition. Once again the engine burst into life, and Sam found himself a little irritated that he'd mentioned going back. He was having fun out here, just the two of them. He enjoyed spending time with the suspected misanthropist.

"Hey Luke, can I drive the boat back?"

"No way."

"But Luke-"

"Ruby's my baby, Sam, fuck off."

"Please?" Sam said quietly, approaching Luke from behind and wrapping his arms around his waist, resting his chin on his shoulder. "Pretty please?" He felt Luke still under him, he could hear the shallowness of his breathing.

"Fine," he muttered, pulling away and sitting grumpily in the seat to Sam's left. "But you don't get to dock her."

"Deal," Sam said, shooting Luke a grin. Luke smiled softly back, and it was different to his usual smug grin. It was nice, but it was too… Personal, and it made Sam a little uncomfortable. No matter how much he may or may not like Luke, the idea of actually taking it seriously was definitely still weird.

"Oh, and Sam," Luke added just as they were pulling out of the cove.

"Mm, yeah?"

"If you crash her, I'll burn everything you love."

"Got it."

 

*

 

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Dean complained as Cas fiddled absently with the corner of the comforter. They were sitting on Cas' bed in what was left of the afternoon sunshine; it was beginning to cloud over in some places, and it looked like it might rain. "I mean they've been gone for _hours_."

Cas smiled, leaning over and gently kissing Dean on the cheek. "Don't worry about Sam, he's fine. Luke's not actually as childish and irresponsible as he looks."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that? Because I'm definitely not sure about that."

Cas laughed, taking Dean's hand and lacing their fingers together. "Dean, relax. They'll be back soon."

Dean sighed, giving Cas' hand a squeeze. "Okay, okay."

The timing couldn't have been more perfect, actually, because at that point Dean heard Sam calling his name

"Dean?! Dude, where are you?!"

"Up here, Sammy!" Dean shot Cas a grin and Cas smiled back. "You're amazing," Dean told him, leaning forwards and kissing him deeply on the lips for a moment. "You're one amazing son of a bitch, okay Cas? Imma go say hi to Sammy, I'll be literally five minutes."

"It's fine," Cas chuckled, cheeks slightly flushed from Dean's kiss. "Go."

Dean grinned at him and left the room, jogging down the stairs. "Sam, as your brother I have to say that I'm surprised you didn't at least text to say you were alive-"

He stopped mid-sentence, staring at his brother. "Dude," he said in astonishment. "You've got a serious tan."

Sam was standing in the middle of the kitchen, and a stressed-looking Gabriel shoved him out of the way. "Cooking, Moose, cooking! Get out of my cooking space!"

Sam grinned up at Dean. "Yeah, who would've guessed? I mean, it's pretty fucking sunny in the Caribbean," he said in mock surprise. 

Dean rolled his eyes with a grin. "No need to get snarky with me, Hasselhoff. Where's the rich guy?"

"Here," Luke called, and Dean glanced to the right to see Luke collapsed and spread out across the leather couch.

"Comfortable?" Dean asked sarcastically.

"Mm. Very."

"Hey, I never thanked you for kidnapping my brother earlier."

"Dean," Sam started, sounded exasperated.

Luke just chuckled. "Aw come on, Deano, it's not like I raped and killed him while we were gone, we just went fishing."

Dean frowned in Luke's direction before turning to Sam, who gave Dean The Puppy Face and shrugged. "It _was_ fun."

"Yeah, until you nearly broke my boat, Sam. You were _this_ close to having to arrest me for murder, okay, I'm never letting you drive again."

"You let him drive _Ruby_?" Gabriel gaped, stopping mid-stir. "Luke, you _never_ let _anyone_ go near her-"

Luke sighed. "Yes, Gabriel, I know, surprisingly I was present for the majority of those times."

"Does this mean I can drive her?!"

"Not in a million years, Gabe, no."

"But you let Sam-"

" _I said no_."

"Alright, alright," Gabe whistled, going back to cooking… Whatever it was he was making. It looked like risotto. 

"Smells good, Gabriel," Dean noted, leaning against the counter and watching the shorter man cook. "What is it?"

"A delicious surprise, now go away Winchester."

"Touchy touchyyy…"

Gabriel was right, though. By the time they had all sat down for dinner and Gabriel had served what turned out to be shrimp and lemon risotto, Dean was starving. And it _was_ delicious.

 


	9. The Puzzle

Sam and Dean had first set foot on the island almost exactly three weeks ago, and for Sam at least, he wasn't really feeling excited to be going home.

It was their last day on _Paradise Island_ as Dean had started calling it, as after Sam told him that the island's official name was Barbara he hadn't been able to take anything seriously for at least two hours, and then took it upon himself to rename the place. Luke, at least, had been amused.

Luke had been weird for the past couple of days, now Sam came to think of it. He'd spent most of his time sitting at the kitchen table doing different 1000-piece puzzles, barely saying a word.

Anna had tried to help him on a few different occasions, but he'd just shushed her and waved her away with his hands, focussing intently on the puzzle.

He was there for at least three hours every day, and twice he finished the puzzle he was working on and just found a new one. Just like that; he picked out a new puzzle from god knows where and started on that one. Currently he was about half way through a puzzle which the end result was supposed to depict a photograph of the Empire State Building.

It was pretty fucking weird.

Sam was trying not to dwell on it, but he really wished that Luke would say something to him. They'd barely spoken in almost three days, since the boat trip, and as it was Sam's last day he'd like to think that Luke cared that he was leaving. Even if it as just a little bit.

Everything was fine for Dean and Cas. Cas was going to fly back to California with Sam and Dean, and Dean was going to stay in his apartment at Stanford for a few weeks. He had 'accidentally' told Bobby that he was going to be out of the country for a lot longer than he actually was, so he had a few weeks to kill. Even Cas had loads of free time before his Philosophy and Theology lectures started up again.

Sam, however, had to go straight back to school. Law was a demanding course, Sam had known that when he signed up for it, but he really didn't feel like he was going to be in the mood for rushing straight back to his books and essays after a vacation like this one.

Especially not when he knew exactly what he was leaving behind.

But hey, maybe he'd run into Luke in the future. I mean, they were both going to be doing the same profession, and it was Sam's dream to live in New York anyway… Maybe Luke could help him get a job once he'd passed the bar or something.

If they still even talked, that is.

Sam didn't even want to think about that. He'd only known the guy for three weeks, but the idea of cutting him completely out of his life was just unthinkable.

At least his best friend was Luke's brother, that had to help at least on some level.

"Moose, are you even listening to me?"

"Hm? What?" Sam blinked, broken out of his reverie by a pissed-looking Gabriel. 

"You've been staring blankly at the same page of that book for, like, five minutes. I asked if you were done packing yet." 

"Oh, no, not yet. I've done all my clothes and stuff, I just need to do my toothbrush and whatever."

Luke let out a grumpy noise from the kitchen table, and Sam glanced over at him from where he was sitting with his book on the couch. "What?"

"Nothing, sorry. Carry on."

Gabe rolled his eyes. "So anyway, Sam, me and Anna were thinking about putting together a nice little going-away dinner or something for you and Dean, does that sound good? I mean, she intended for it to be a surprise though, so, y'know, act surprised."

Sam grinned at him. "Will do, Gabe, thanks for the heads-up."

Gabriel winked at him. "No problem." He wandered off up the stairs.

Just Sam and Luke remained in the kitchen.

"Hey, Satan?"

"Yes," Luke replied in a musing tone, not looking up from his puzzle.

"What's with the whole puzzle thing? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love puzzles as much as the next guy, but you're kinda starting to freak everyone out a little bit."

Luke chuckled, and Sam could see him slot a piece into place. "Puzzles are great for helping you work things out, Sam. If you're ever caught in a situation where you have two impossible choices and you need to choose, I'd highly suggest doing a puzzle to help you work it out."

"So what are you trying to work out, then?"

Luke was silent. Sam guessed he had exhausted the man's patience for questions already.

Sam sighed, standing up with his book and moving over to the stairs.

"Sam, wait-"

He glanced back, raising an eyebrow, one hand on the banister.

Luke was watching him with an almost hesitant look in his eyes. "Nevermind," he said after a moment, quickly turning back to his puzzle. "It doesn't matter."

Sam was half tempted to push the subject further, but he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere if he tried. "Whatever," he muttered, heading up the stairs. "See you later, I guess."

 

*

 

It was 2:43.

They had seven minutes until they needed to leave

Seven minutes.

Sam felt like hiding in a closet and hoping no one ever found him.

But no, that was stupid. He knew it was stupid. He knew that he had to go home and go back to school so he could get his degree and live his fucking life. No matter how much he didn't want to go, no matter how much he thought Luke meant or could mean to him, it wasn't worth his future. Not even close. Like he'd thought when they had first met; he was just some guy. Sam would get over it. Like when his last girlfriend, Jess, dumped him; he'd gotten over that, he could get over this. They weren't even properly a thing.

Sam ignored the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that this wasn't like that, because it was. It was exactly like that.

He heard footsteps coming closer to the door of the room that he'd been using, and before the person could even knock, he said, "Come in, it's open."

Dean poked his head around the door, grinning. "You ready, Sammy? Everyone's downstairs to say goodbye; c'mon, we have to go."

Sam nodded, grabbing his bags and leaving the room with Dean, taking one last quick look around before pulling the door closed.

He followed Dean down the stairs and dumped his bags on the floor beside the front door, when he was attacked from behind by Gabriel, who pulled him into quite possibly the top Guinness World Record contender for the tightest hug ever.

"Gabe I can't breathe," he wheezed out, and Gabriel let him go, grinning and slapping him on the back. 

"It's been awesome having you here," he laughed, pulling Dean into a hug that looked just as tight. Dean let out a choking sound. "It really has. We'll miss you two crazy kids."

Sam couldn't help but grin back. "Thanks for having us," he chuckled, and Dean clapped Gabriel's shoulder. "It was great meeting you, man."

Then Anna appeared out of nowhere like a red-headed whirlwind, grabbing both Sam and Dean and pulling them tightly into a three-way hug.

It was very uncomfortable.

"Take good care of Cassie okay, Dean?" Anna said in her scary little-sister way, and Dean just grinned and ruffled her hair. "I will, don't worry." Sam noticed him glance out to the boat, where Cas was loading the bags, and smile slightly to himself. It was sickeningly adorable.

Michael showed up, then, and held out his hand. Sam shook it. Michael gave him a courteous nod and a half-smile before moving on to Dean. "It was nice meeting you, boys."

"Thanks Mike, you too. Have a good summer…"

Sam had stopped listening to Dean and Michael's conversation. He glanced around, raising an eyebrow. "Hey, where's Luke?"

Anna gave him an understanding smile. "He's up in his room, I think. He doesn't like goodbyes."

Sam rolled his eyes, excused himself and then jogged lightly up the stars. He paused only for a moment outside Luke's room. "Luke, we're leaving now, so if you want to say goodbye then now's the time to-"

The disgustingly pink door flew open and Sam felt himself being pulled violently forwards by the collar of his shirt. He had just enough time to let out a squeak of surprise before Luke's lips slammed into his, all hunger and rage and something almost like finality. Sam was frozen in shock for just a moment before he kissed back just as urgently, slamming Luke's door behind him as he moved into the room, keeping his lips locked firmly on Luke's. 

Luke shoved him roughly against the wall, pinning him against it, and Sam could taste the smoke and coffee on his tongue. He was going dizzy from the lack of oxygen, and eventually, when neither could hold his breath any longer they pulled apart.

The sounds of heavy breathing and nothing else filled the still air around them. Sam's eyes met Luke's and then they were staring at each other, just staring, not doing anything else. And then;

"If you're going to go, then I've got something for you."

Sam blinked, tilting his head questioningly. "What is it?" Really? Is this the time?

Luke turned away, reaching for something Sam couldn't see. He moved back to face him, holding a box in his hands. He held it out to Sam.

Sam raised both his eyebrows. "A puzzle?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't this the one you were doing this morning?"

"Mm."

"Why have you given me a puzzle?"

"It's missing a piece. It was pissing me off."

"Unbelievable," Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You know, maybe this is why we could never work."

"Excuse me, Sam, I paid for _fireworks_ for you, and all you did was leave me standing on the balcony feeling like an idiot," Luke said accusingly. "Just take the damn puzzle, okay?"'

"Well _sorry_ ," Sam muttered sharply, turning to leave. Sometimes Luke really could be a monumental asshole, and you know, maybe Sam wasn't going to miss him _that_ much, but as his hand touched the door handle he heard a small voice behind him say, "Y'know, Sam, if… If you wanted to stay, I mean, we've got the space, and I'd like the company..."

"I can't," Sam said, and his voice was a lot softer now. "I've got university to go back to, my career's on the line here, Luke-"

Luke sighed. "No, you're right. I know. I'm sorry."

"Me too." Sam meant it. "I guess I'll… Well, I guess I'll see you around."

Luke half smiled at him. "Yeah. I'll see you."

Sam hesitated slightly at the door. "Oh, fuck it," He sighed, turning back around and pressing his lips against Luke's again, only this time more softly. They stayed there for just a few seconds, before Sam could hear Dean yelling his name from downstairs. 

"Sammy?! We're leaving, kiddo, come on!"

Sam pulled away from Luke, avoiding his eyes. "I'm coming!" He yelled back, and with that, he slipped out of Luke's room, clutching the puzzle with one hand.

When he got downstairs, Dean raised his eyebrows. "What's that?" He asked, nodding at the box in Sam's hand.

Sam glanced at it, shrugging. "A puzzle. It's from Luke," he explained. "He sends his regards and he said thanks for staying and he hopes you won't break his brother's heart." Luke had said no such thing. Sam guessed he was a little bit too distracted.

Dean seemed to accept Sam's words and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the house. "Anyway come on, we gotta get moving or we'll miss our plane."

By the time Sam, Dean and Cas had all boarded the boat and began to pull out of the dock, everyone else, excluding Luke, was standing on the water's edge and was waving ecstatically. 

"Bye!" Gabe was yelling as Anna tried to push his arm off her shoulders. "Have a safe trip, dudes!"

Dean had one arm around Cas, who was leaning into him with a grin. Sam smiled at them. No matter how miserable he felt, at least Dean was finally happy.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second last chapter, done! don't worry guys, there'll be a happy ending next chapter, I promise xD  
> -cat


	10. When All Is Said And Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter's up! thanks so much for your support and all, I've really appreciated it :) so this is the end of my first fic, but who knows, it might not be the last. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it <3  
> -cat

It had been two months since Sam had started back at Stanford. Two, boring months. Two months of law books and professors, of food that didn't even half match Gabriel's. Two months of no free time and no sleep. Two months of no Luke.

It was horrible.

Sam was sitting on the only couch in his crappy apartment, with books sprawled out across every possible surface except the one with the puzzle on it. Yes, Sam had actually done the puzzle. He figured he might as well; it was a puzzle, after all, and Luke had given it to him. It took him maybe two days, not including how many hours he'd been out at seminars or doing various bits and pieces for his different professors, to complete it properly. Luke had been right, though, the missing piece was pissing Sam off- it was smack in the middle of the puzzle, where someone's face was meant to be.

When he'd first pulled off the top and poured all the pieces out onto the table there had been a small folded note that fluttered to the ground. Sam's heart had kept in his chest, hoping for something from Luke that would give him some closure or something, but all it said in the other man's neat, spidery handwriting was:

_'Sorry about the missing piece, it'll irritate you for a bit but you'll get over it. -Luke.'_

Sam would be lying if he said he hadn't been at the least frustrated, and at the most very seriously disappointed with the note's content. But all the same, he'd kept it; tucked up in his wallet alongside a yellowing photo of his mother and a wrinkly old picture of him and Dean together when they were kids. 12-year-old Dean's arm was wrapped tightly around 8-year-old Sam's shoulders, and they were both grinning toothily at the camera. Sam remembered when that photo was taken.

Their dad had been working in Memphis, something about… Sam didn't really remember. But they'd been staying with John's friend Bobby, Singer, the one that Dean now worked for. Bobby had been great with the two young boys, Sam smiled to himself; taking them out to the park, and playing baseball with them, and letting them stay up late to watch horror movies that he knew Dean would find scary even though he pretended he didn't, all the things that John never did with either of them. And one day, Bobby had pulled out a camera and said, "Right boys, we're gonna take a picture for your ol' man to see when he comes home."

When John did come home, he was plastered and didn't look much to be in the mood for pictures. So Sam had kept it. Dean had put up a bit of a fuss at first, but eventually let Sam win out.

Speaking of Dean, Sam hadn't heard from him, or Cas, in at least two weeks.

Dean had gone back to Kansas within the first month of the three of them arriving back in California. He couldn't hold off going back to work for any longer. Sam had still received texts and emails every few days, and Cas was getting phone calls every afternoon. The first chance he got Castiel flew to Lawrence to stay with Dean for a while, and that had been almost three weeks ago, now. Sam hadn't heard from either of them.

He hoped they were still alive.

In fact, aside from Dean, Cas and Michael, he'd heard from or about pretty much everyone else.

Sam had received a very nice phone call from Anna, Castiel's sister, the other day. She'd phoned him up to ask how he was, and how college was going, and if he'd given in to the temptation to shoot himself due to all the pressure that law school could put on a guy. Sam had laughed, responding with no, and in turn asked how Rhode Island was treating her. The redhead had laughed and explained all about her course, and her new boyfriend Ash and how great he was, and about this cute bar down the road from her apartment called The Roadhouse that Sam should totally visit the next time he was in town. 

They'd remained on the phone for about an hour before Anna said she had to go. Sam had made her promise not to be a stranger. She'd made him promise to visit.

He liked Anna, she was a sweet kid, and she seemed to actually care about how Sam was doing.

He didn't even need a phone call to tell how Gabriel was doing.

His name was plastered all over magazines a few weeks ago when his band, Archangel, had gotten back together and performed as a supporting act to Fall Out Boy. The crowd had adored them, and suddenly their music had skyrocketed to the top of the charts; everyone loved them, everyone had heard of them, and if you hadn't you might as well have been living at the bottom of a fishpond. They were doing TV and radio interviews right the way across the county, and every time Sam had turned in and listened to one of them, he heard Gabriel's voice and smiled to himself. He was glad that he was doing well, he really was.

Luke, too, had been on TV recently.

The Adams murder trial was last week and Luke had been on the prosecution. Sam had originally intended to watch the court trial in order to learn something, but once he realised Luke was in it all he did was stare at the blond man on the prosecution table for three hours, listening more intently than he was sure the rest of his classmates were every time Luke spoke. He had great diction, Luke did, great confidence. It made for an excellent lawyer. Sam felt almost proud of him when the judge announced that the prosecution had won out and the defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree.

It seemed like life was finally going right for everyone, Sam thought to himself as he lifted his ramen noodles off the floor and began to eat, reading a textbook out of the corner of his eye as he did so- no point wasting time.

It was at that point, however, that there was a sharp knock at his door. Sam frowned, checking his watch; it was half past nine at night, who the hell was knocking on his door at this time of day?

He sighed, putting his dinner down and approaching the door. There was another volley of knocks, and Sam yelled out to whoever was waiting, "Alright, alright, I'm _coming_."

He slid the chain lock off the door and swung it open, but who he saw standing casually in the doorway nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Hi Sam," Luke said nonchalantly, seemingly unable to keep Sam's gaze.

He was just as gorgeous as he had been when Sam had last seen him, except he looked a lot more sharp. His hair was styled, for some reason, and he wore a dark grey suit with a white shirt and a black tie. His pale blue eyes were dulled slightly by his black thick-framed glasses.

"Can I, uh-"

"Come in," Sam finished, finally breaking out of the trance-like state he'd been shocked into at seeing the guy. "Sure…" He stepped out of the way, allowing Luke to saunter inside.

"Nice place," Luke commented casually, putting both hands in his pockets. "I'm staying in that shitty hotel down the street. Being in an apartment that doesn't smell like carpet cleaner is a luxury commodity that I never fully appreciated before."

Sam watched him disbelievingly. Luke Milton was standing in his living room.

Sam didn't think they were likely to speak to each other again, let alone see each other; after all, it had been two months, but here he was, examining Sam's collection of scruffy law books like they hadn't even been apart.

"You should take better care of these, Sam," Luke murmured, carefully picking up one of the books. 

"Not to sound blunt, Luke, but, uhhh… How do you know where I live?"

"My brother lives in the same fucking building, Sam, it wasn't exactly hard."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, right-" Sam watched him fiddle around with something in his pocket for a minute before he turned around, holding it out to Sam. "I found it."

Sam raised an eyebrow, heart thudding so loudly in his chest that he was sure Luke could hear it. "Found what?"

"The missing piece. You know, for the puzzle. I found it."

Sam opened his mouth, and then closed it again. It took a few seconds to fully compute what Luke was saying. "And you couldn't just… Mail it?" He finally said, voice slightly hoarse.

Luke shrugged, avoiding Sam's eyes. "I wanted to deliver it in person."

A thick, heavy silence hung between them like a curtain, until Sam pushed it open. "Why?"

"I dunno." Luke shrugged slightly, meeting Sam's eyes, and Sam thought he saw his cheeks flush red before he glanced away. "I guess... Because it's sort of like a metaphor, you know?"

Sam looked confusedly at him. "No," he said slowly, not understanding.

Luke sighed. "I just mean, like… Okay. So I'm pretty well-off, you know? I have money, a career, family, everything I could ever possibly need in my life. Everything fits together." He gestured at the completed puzzle on the table. "So… Just say the puzzle sort of represents my life."

Sam nodded slowly. "Okaaay…"

"But there's a piece missing. And… For a while I didn't notice because the rest of the puzzle wasn't finished, and when the puzzle was nearly done I still didn't know what it was, so I just ignored it. But then after I completed the rest of the puzzle I could sort of work out what the piece was meant to be, and it felt bad not having it because I knew what I was missing."

Sam was beginning to get the jist.

He moved a little closer to Luke, who still wasn't looking at him, and had one hand tugging slightly nervously at his hair.

"So after a while I gave up, you know, I stopped looking for the piece, and then the other day I just… I found it. Completely by accident. Like, everything just suddenly fell into place. And so, I felt like I needed to just… Fit it all together. And you can't really do that through the mail, or… Or with a phone call."

He finally looked up, blue eyes meeting brown. 

"Oh," Sam said quietly, keeping his eyes trained on Luke's. "Oh."

"Mm."

Another silence. 

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're the missing piece."

Sam's heart soared. He opened his mouth to speak, but found himself at a loss for words. He'd sort of understood what Luke had been trying to say, but it didn't really fully hit him until just then. Why couldn't he say anything?! Here he was, Luke Milton, the guy he'd sort of embarrassingly been pining after for the last eight weeks, who'd openly just admitted that he had feelings for Sam, and Sam was standing there like a mute lemon.

"I promise, though, that whole speech sounded a _lot_ less lame in my head."

Sam actually laughed, and it seemed that the weight forcing his mouth shut was suddenly gone. "It wasn't _that_ lame," he half teased. "It was kind of chick-flick, though. Very cliche."

Luke smirked at him. "Cliche has always been my forte."

"I saw your court case on TV."

"Mm, what did you think?"

"You looked amazing."

This time, Luke definitely blushed. "That wasn't really what I meant."

Sam grinned at him. "I know what you meant."

Luke laughed softly, and then cleared his throat. "So, um-"

"How long are you staying here for?"

"Well I've got the hotel for two more days, so-"

"You're not staying in a hotel."

"What? Yes I am, Sam, I'm pretty fucking sure, I dropped my bags there and everything."

"No, I mean, you can stay here. With me. If… If you'd like to."

Luke swallowed, looking up at him.

"Are you serious, really?"

Sam grinned. "Yeah, I'm serious. We've gotta finish that lame-ass puzzle, remember?"

Luke laughed, rolling his eyes as he moved over to Sam.

"I fucking hate you."

"I fucking know."

Luke wrapped his arms around Sam's waist and pulled him against his chest, pressing their lips deeply together.

Sam felt all the air rush out of him at once as he kissed back. He didn't think he'd felt this happy in a very, very long time.

After what felt like an age they pulled apart, and Luke looked in amusement at him. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought you weren't gay."

"You're a dick."

"You love it."

And the thing was, Sam realised with a grin, that he was totally, totally right.

 


End file.
